"Dissatisfied with his native Kentucky's neutrality, Hood declared himself a Texan"

Hood graduated 44 out of 52 in the class of 1853, and was sent to an infantry post in California before his transfer to the 2nd U.S. Cavalry in Texas. When the Civil War commenced in 1861, Lieutenant Hood’s sympathies were with the South; although his home state of Kentucky did not secede. He resigned from the army, offered his services to the Confederate States, and was commissioned a colonel in command of the 4th Texas Infantry. Subsequently, the regiment was sent to Virginia. In the winter of 1862, he was promoted to brigadier general and ordered to take command of what was called the "Texas Brigade." The Texas Brigade, however, contained Georgia as well as Texas units. On June 27, 1862, Hood led his brigade into combat at the Battle of Gaines Mill, northeast of Richmond, Virginia. It was a costly battle for the new brigadier, and his brigade lost 87 men killed and 425 wounded. It was his command that broke through the Union defenses, but it may have been his prudent leadership that won the day. One of his soldiers recalled: "I tell you what.... I got mighty nervous and shaky while we were forming in the apple orchard to make that last desperate charge on the batteries. But when I looked behind me and saw old Hood... looking as unconcerned as if we were on dress parade, I just determined that if he could stand it, I would."

Hood led the Texas Brigade through the Battles of Second Manassas, South Mountain, and Sharpsburg where he commanded a division of two brigades. At Sharpsburg in the bitterly contested Miller corn field, Hood suffered 1,000 casualties in his 2,000 man command. After the battle, General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson recommended that Hood be promoted to major general.  Jackson also proclaimed: "I regard him as one of the most promising officers of the army." As a newly appointed major general, Hood, with his division, avoided heavy fighting at the Battle of Fredericksburg, after which his division was ordered to Suffolk, Virginia, where they collected supplies for the army and sparred with a Union force which occupied the city. During this time, he met Sally Preston, a pretty, sophisticated young woman who was a member of Richmond's social elite. Hood was immediately taken by Preston, who was nicknamed "Buck." After the Battle of Chancellorsville, Hood's division was ordered back to Northern Virginia. By mid-June, Hood and his 8,000 men had rejoined the Army of Northern Virginia and camped near Culpeper Court House prior to its march toward Pennsylvania.

"Do your best, Sam," Longstreet to Hood at the Battle of Gettysburg

General Hood's contempt for the ground he was to attack on July 2 at Gettysburg is well documented. The long, tiring march of 18 miles, a precious few moments to rest his men before going into battle, and the strength of Union artillery positions frustrated him. As he rode into battle with his troops, a large fragment of a Union artillery shell slashed into the general's arm, tearing away much of the muscle and some of the bone. Pale and weak, Hood was taken to a field hospital where doctors decided not to amputate the arm, believing that it could be saved. Hood was grateful, but the damage was so severe that the arm was useless. He carried it in a sling for the rest of his life.

General Hood, not yet fully recovered from his Gettysburg wound, accompanied his division to Georgia that fall and was severely wounded in the leg at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863. This time, surgeons could not save his shattered limb and amputated before infection could set in. Though crippled and suffering, Hood's will to serve the Confederacy had not waned. In 1864 he was assigned to command a corps in the Confederate Army in Georgia under Joseph Johnston. After the army had become nearly surrounded on the outskirts of Atlanta, Hood was promoted and assumed command. The aggressive spirit still in him, the general ventured out of the city's defenses to attack encircling Union forces under General William T. Sherman. The Battle of Atlanta was a devastating Confederate defeat; Hood fell back into Atlanta's weakened defenses and then he attempted to draw the Yankee army out of Georgia by invading Tennessee. The battles of Franklin and Nashville resulted in additional disasters. Thoroughly dejected, Hood asked to be relieved of command after the Battle of Nashville; his service to the Confederacy had ended.

At war's end, Hood surrendered to Federal authorities in Natchez, Mississippi. After he was paroled and signed an oath of allegiance, he decided to move his family to New Orleans, Louisiana, where it appeared he could prosper. Hood opened a modestly successful law office in the city and dealt in land speculation through the period of reconstruction. In 1879, the New Orleans yellow fever epidemic claimed the lives of his wife and one of their children. The crippled Hood succumbed to that disease on August 30, 1879, and is buried in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans and next to his wife and child.