John Bell Hood Quotes
Last Updated April 19, 2011
“I was young and buoyant in spirit, my men were mounted and all eager for a chase as well as a fray.”
John B. Hood
Hood describing his assignment to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment. Hood Advance and Retreat p 9
From Reading the Man – A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters by Elizabeth Brown Pryor. New York: Penguin Group, 2007. Page 244
“Whereas I would cheerfully have obeyed directions to deliver them to General Lee’s Quartermaster for the use of the Army, I did not consider it just that I should be required to yield them to another brigade of the division, which was in no matter entitled to them.”
John B. Hood Sep 14 1862
Hood’s explanation for not turning over captured ambulances to Major General Nathan Evans; the refusal resulted in Evans arresting Hood.
From The Battle of South Mountain by John David Hoptak. Charleston: The History Press, 2011. Page 79
“his head uncovered and his face proud and joyful”
John Stevens
Sep 14 1862
Description of Hood when his arrest was suspended enroute to Turner’s Gap by RE Lee
From “First Texas in the Cornfield.” by George E. Otott. The Maryland Campaign of 1862 Civil War Regiments: A Journal of the American Civil War. Vol 5, No 3. Campbell CA: Savas Publishing Company, 1998. Page 79
“All lion, none of the fox”
Robert E. Lee
Lee describing Hood
From How the North Won by Herman Hattaway and Archer Jones. Urbana: University of Illinois Press 1983. Page 607
“…Hood is a good fighter, very industrious on the battlefield, careless off, and I have had no opportunity of judging his action, when the whole responsibility rested upon him. I have a very high opinion of his gallantry, earnestness and zeal.
Robert E. Lee Jul 1864
Considering Hood as a replacement, (July 64) Jefferson Davis solicited the advice of Robert E. Lee, who replied,
“You shall have him gentleman”
Robert E. Lee Sep 14 1862
Lee in response to men of Hood’s Division that his arrest be suspended at Battle of South Mountain. Polley, J.B. Hood’s Texas Brigade, 114
From R.E. Lee A Biography by Douglas Southall Freeman. New York Scribners, 1934. Vol 2:370
“Oh! he is a soldier!”
Thomas Jackson
Jackson responding to an aide who mentioned John B. Hood. Paxton Memoir, Page 58
From Stonewall Jackson The Man, The Soldier, The Legend by James I. Robertson. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co, 1997. Page 609
“Hood’s appearance was very striking; in age only 34, he had a personality that would attract attention anywhere. Very tall and somewhat loose-jointed; a long, oval face shaded by yellowish beard, plentiful hair of same color, and voice of great power and compass. With very winning manners, he is said to have used these advantages actively for his own advancement. But apart from that, his services in the field were of the best…As major general he continued to display high qualities and he might be considered an ideal officer of that rank and command.
Moxley Sorrel
From Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer by Moxley G. Sorrell. New York: Bantam edition, 1992.
Antietam Voices 
Great quotes. Except one.
Robert E. Lee never said Hood was “all lion, no fox.” That description of Hood came from Stephen Vincent Benet’s 1929 poem “John Brown’s Body” and has been incorrectly attributed to Lee.