Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 32.djvu/166

 154 Southern Historical Society Papers.

application of mathematical formulae. The judge enthroned in each individual conscience is the sole and independent arbiter. A consensus of opinion of such judges, the highest tribunal on earth, is seldom had. One part decided, and if the other, relying on the soundness of its contention, refuses to submit, and the matter be weighty enough, and all means of arriving at an amicable settle- ment are exhausted, hell is let loose; slaughter becomes a motto. So the civil war broke out, and entering the army of the Confeder- acy, John Bell Hood became Colonel, and soon after Brigadier- General of the Texas Brigade.

If his military attainments and genius I will let others speak, bet- ter fitted for a keen analysis and criticism on matters of strategy than I am.

But he was one of the bravest, who never spared himself, sharing with his men all the burdens, the joys and sorrows. He was more than merely their general officer commanding, he was their friend; doubly so, as they reciprocated his feelings. In the battle of Games' Mills he received his first wound in the civil war. Promoted for his valor to a Brevet Major- General, he served in both campaigns in Maryland, was engaged in the second battle of Bull Run, fought gallantly at Boonesborough, Fredericksburg, Antietam and Gettys- burg, where he was again so severely wounded that he lost the use of his arm. In the following September he rejoined his command and was ordered to re-enforce General Bragg in Tennessee.

On the second day of the battle in Chickamauga he fought most splendidly, rallying the wavering troops, imbuing them with his spirit and charging the enemy at the head of the gallant Texans to fall, badly wounded by a minnie ball. His leg had to be am- putated, and when on the road to recovery he was offered a civil position, away from danger and personal risk, he refused without hesitation. His mind his blood aye, his life, he had consecrated to the active service at the front. He thought not of his own safety. He thought of his country and its cause.

After six months he returned to the field and was assigned to a command in General Johnston's army, distinguishing himself repeat- edly during the retreat of the army from Dalton to Atlanta. When in July, 1864, General Johnston was removed from the command, General Hood was placed at its head. In the desperate conflict of Atlanta, both sides lost heavily. The following November, though, he compelled the evacuation of Decatur and then made a move-