Stephen Hood, The Lost Papers/John Bell Hood. Signed First Edition HC/DJ. FINE!
Stephen M. Hood, The Lost Papers of Confederate General John Bell Hood. Savas Beatie, 2015. ISBN 978-1-61121-182-5. Signed and Dated First Edition, First Printing Hardcover Book in Dust Jacket. Condition: Fine/Like New. Absolutely beautiful book with perfect text block, tight spine, perfect dust jacket. Appears to have been opened only to be signed by the author on the full title page, “SM Hood, 11/10/16.” No other markings or writings. Pictures included are of the actual book being offered for sale. Scholars hail Confederate General John Bell Hood’s personal papers as “the most important discovery in Civil War scholarship in the last half century.” This invaluable cache of over 200 documents relate to Hood’s U.S. Army service, Civil War career, and postwar life. It includes letters from Confederate and Union officers, unpublished battle reports, detailed medical reports relating to Hood’s two major wounds, and dozens of letters exchanged between Hood and his wife Anna. This treasure trove is being made available for the first time for both professional and amateur Civil War historians in The Lost Papers of Confederate General John Bell Hood, edited and annotated by award-winning author Stephen M. Hood. The historical community long believed General Hood’s papers were lost or destroyed, and numerous books and articles were written about him without the benefit of these invaluable documents. In fact, the papers had been carefully preserved for generations by Hood’s descendants. In 2012, collateral descendent Stephen Hood was given access to these papers as part of his research for his Savas Beatie book John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Confederate General. This 200+ document collection sheds important light on some of the war’s lingering mysteries and controversies. For example, letters from Confederate officers help explain Hood’s failure to entrap Schofield’s Union army at Spring Hill, Tennessee, on November 29, 1864. Another letter by Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee helps to explain Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne’s gallant but reckless conduct that resulted in his death at Franklin. Lee also lodges serious allegations against Confederate Maj. Gen. William Bate’s troops. Other papers explain, for the first time, the purpose and intent behind Hood’s “controversial” memoir Advance and Retreat and validate its contents. While these and others offer a military perspective of Hood the general, the revealing letters between he and Anna, his beloved and devoted wife, help us better understand Hood the man and husband.Historians and other writers have spent generations speculating about Hood’s motives, beliefs, actions, and objectives and the result has not always been flattering or even fully honest. Now, long believed “lost” firsthand accounts previously unavailable offer insights into the character, personality, and military operations of John Bell Hood the general, husband, and father. Collectible and unique!