Confederate Officers
John Bell Hood
The son of a doctor, Hood had his problems at West Point. At
one point, Robert E. Lee was forced to disipline the errant cadet. Hood later served with
Lee in Texas, getting rapid promotions because of his bravery in combat. Lee and Hood
would frequently ride in the countryside together. He resigned his commission in 1861 and
joined the Confederate forces as First Lieutenant of cavalry. In May of 1862 he made
Brigadier General and was put in command of the Texas Brigade. He saw battle at Seven
Days, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg. The general lost use of an arm at
Gettysburg. Arriving from Virginia with James Longstreet to fight the battle of
Chickamauga, Hood led the charge that routed the Union line and forced Rosecrans to flee.
Left by Longstreet to recover from wounds(his leg was amputated at a field hospital during
the battle), he assumed command of a corps under Joseph E. Johnston during the Atlanta
Campaign. His attack at Kolb's Farm prevented Sherman from bypassing rebel entrenchments
at Kennesaw Mountain.
In spite of General Robert E. Lee's objections and Braxton
Bragg's less than flowing praise, Davis promoted Hood to Commander of the Army of the
Tennessee on July 17, 1864. He attacked at Ezra Church, Lickskillet, Peachtree Creek,
Legett's Mill, and Utoy Creek losing every battle and a third of his men. Moving his army
north he began the disastrous Nashville Campaign with random attacks in North Georgia
including an attack on Allatoona Pass. He lost major battles and numerous generals at
Franklin and Nashville. In January of 1865 he requested to be relieved of duty.
Although born in Kentucky, Hood had been greatly impressed by
the Texans. During the war he was in command of a corps from Texas. The song "Yellow
Rose of Texas" was re-written by Hood's corps (Yellow Rose was a young lady of mixed
ancestry who kept General Santa Anna "occupied" in his tent immediately before
the battle of San Jacinto in the war for Texas Independence in 1836). The new words to the
song were 'The gallant Hood of Texas played hell in Tennessee.'
After the war, Hood moved to New Orleans and was unsuccessful
at business. He and his wife died of yellow fever in 1879, leaving 10 children.
James Johnston Pettigrew
James Johnston Pettigrew was born on July 4, 1828 at Bonarva
plantation on the shore of Lake Phelps. He was the youngest son and eighth of the nine
children of Ebenezer and Ann Blount Shepard Pettigrew. His father was an able
agriculturalist, operating several large plantations in Tyrrell and Washington counties.
In 1843 at the age of fourteen, Pettigrew entered the
University of North Carolina where,it was said, his academic prowess was unequalled.
President James Polk and Secretary of the Navy John Mason attended the 1847 commencement
where Pettigrew was valedictorian and were so impressed with his genius that they offered
the eighteen year-old graduate a professorship at the U.S. Navel Observatory.
Pettigrew spent six months at the observatory as an
astronomer but in 1849 he began the study of law. Later that year he sailed to Europe. His
travels were fiananced by a gift of $50,000, an incrediable sum for the time, from James
C. Johnston for whom he was named. Johnston wanted his namesake to be financially secure
and to devote his life and talents to public service. Pettigrew studied at the University
of Berlin and traveled all over Europe, learning to speak fluently German, Italian, French
and Spanish. He also read Hebrew and Arabic and became an accomplished pianist.
From 1852 unitl the War Between the States
Pettigrew lived in Charleston, South Carolina, practicing law with James L. Petigru, one
of the most famous lawyers in the nation. Besides being a lawyers, Pettigrew edited a
newspaper, wrote magazine articles, did historical research on Spain, and served in the
South Carolina legislature.
Convinced that some day there would be war between the North
and the South, Pettigrew began to ready himself for it. He was active in the South
Carolina militia, and through private study, became quite knowledgeable about military
tactics, engineering and artillery. In 1856 he became Adjutant General of the South
Carolina militia.
In 1859 war broke out in Italy as the Kingdom of Sardinia
sought to overthrow Austrian domination of Italy. Pettigrew hurried to Europe, hoping to
take part in the war, and offered his services to the King of Sardinia. An armistice was
declared a few days after he arrived, however, and he saw no action. Instead, he spent
several months in Paris studying military science and traveled to Spain, Pettigrew wrote a
book entitled "Noted on Spian and the Spaniards", which was published at the
beginning of the War Between the States.
When South Carolina passed an ordinance of secession in 1860,
Pettigrew was elected commanding Colonel of the South Carolina First Regiment of Rifles
and was also appointed as cheif military aide to Governor Francis Pickens. In these
capacities, he severed throughout the Fort Sumter crisis.
Following the surrender of Fort Sumter, Pettigrew offered his
services to his native state of North Carolina. He was soon elected Colonel of the
22nd North Carolina and the regiment did guard duty on the Potomac river. Here he
established policies of leadership he would follow throughout his career, eating the same
foods as a private and denying himself anything he could not offer his men. Heeding what
he had learned in Europe, Pettigrew took health and sanitation precautions, extraordinary
for the time, to protect his men from epidemics.
While serving on the Potomac, Pettigrew was promoted to
Brigadier General. When he learned of the promotion, he refused it, stating that he did
not feel he had earned it, as no one should be a general who had not led men in combat.
Later, when heavy fighting was imminent, Pettigrew was ordered to accept a promotion to
Brigadier General and was placed in command of a brigade of North Carolina, Arkansas,
Georgia and Virginia troops.
During the Peninsula campaign, when the Union army under
McClellan approached richmond, Pettigrew's troops were among the forces in opposition.
Pettigrew rode through heavy woods to scout out the position of the enemy and was hit by a
musket ball which went through his throat and shoulder, permanently damaging his right
arm. When soldiers tried to carry him to the rear, he ordered them back to the ranks.
"I refused to allow myself to be taken to the rear after being wounded," he said
later, "because from the amount of bleeding I thought the wound to be fatal; it was
useless to take men from the field for that purpose."
Pettigrew lost consciousness and, left on the battlefield,
was injured once again when Union troops counterattacked. He regained consciousness in a
Union hospital and was sent to prison at Fort Delaware. He sent word to the Confederacy
that he would gladly be reduced to lieutenant if that would speed up his exchange.
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