John Bell Hood, born in 1831, graduated from West Point in 1853 and spent eight years in Indian campaigns. He resigned in 1861 and joined the CSA as a colonel, heading the Texas Brigade. He gained distinction at Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg in 1862, and at Gettysburg and Chickamauga in 1863. He was appointed to command the Army of Tennessee and met defeat at Atlanta in August 1864 and at Franklin and Nashville in December. After the war, he lived in New Orleans.