Granbury's Texas Brigade: Diehard Western Confederates

13 Hood Takes Command

165 chapter thirteen HOOD TAKES COMMAND In July 1864 a high-level command decision would set in motion a series of bloody battles as both sides vied for possession of the Gate City of Atlanta. This dramatic shift in the campaign would shake the Texans to their core and send many of them to their graves. The fighting around Atlanta reinforces the idea that a localized perspective dictated the morale of Granbury ’s Texans. Even though the Confederate government made unwise decisions in their eyes, and even though the fighting took a heavy toll, they continued to remain optimistic about their chances for success because of the example set by Hiram Granbury, Patrick Cleburne, and their regimental officers. The fact that the Texans also remained in the ranks during the terrible bloodletting around Atlanta also underscores their devotion to the Confederate cause. With the two armies at the very gates of Atlanta, Davis and Johnston set the stage for an unexpected shift in the campaign. On the morning of July 12, Johnston telegraphed Davis and advised him to “distribute” the Federal prisoners from Andersonville, south of Atlanta. Davis took this as direct proof that Johnston planned to abandon the city, and the pressure on Davis to replace him mounted. In Atlanta, Bragg wired Davis and advised against appointing Hardee to army command because he would con- Granbury’s Texas Brigade 166 tinue the same policy that Johnston had implemented. Left with no other choice, Davis decided to remove Johnston from command and replace him with John Bell Hood on July 17. The appointment of Hood shocked and outraged the soldiers of the army. Captain Foster wrote in his diary on July 18: “In less than an hour after this fact becomes known, groups of three, five, seven, ten or fifteen men could be seen all over camp discussing the situation. Gen. Johnston has so endeared himself to his soldiers, that no man can take his place. We have never made a fight under him that we did not get the best of it.” Foster continued, “For the first time we hear men openly talk about going home, by tens (10) and fifties (50). They refuse to stand guard, or do any other camp duty, and talk open rebellion against all Military authority. All over camp, (not only among Texas troops) can be seen this demoralization —and at all hours of the afternoon can be heard Hurrah for Joe Johnston and God Dn Jeff Davis.”1 Lieutenant Collins and his company were amusing themselves by playing cards underneath a large oak tree when Adjutant John Willingham of the 10th Texas Infantry arrived and read them Davis’s order replacing Johnston. “The boys all threw down their cards,” remembered Collins, “and collected in little groups discussing the new move they were all dissatisfied , but soon dismissed the whole with the remark hell will break loose in Georgia sure enough now.” John Bell Hood was “a bulldog fighter from away back,” concluded the Texan, “and President Davis could not have suited Gen. Sherman better, had he commissioned him to have made the appointment.”2 Private William Oliphant of Company G, 6th & 15th Texas, remembered that after an officer read the order announcing the instatement of Hood, “absolute silence” reigned. “Not a word was spoken for several minutes after,” wrote Oliphant, “and then one of the boys, as brave a soldier as ever lived or died shrugged his shoulders and said with a sigh, ‘Well boys, we’re going to catch hell now.’”3 These exchanges demonstrate that even though the Texans felt the Confederate government had made a poor decision, as Gary Gallagher points out in The Confederate War, this did not dampen their devotion to the Confederate cause.4 The removal of Johnston seems to have cast a heavy shadow over the spirit of the Texans, but they kept going just the same. Again, their loyalties lay not with the Army of Tennessee or even so much with Johnston, though admittedly he remained very popular. The soldiers thought Davis 167 hood takes command had made a mistake, but this did not cause them to desert the cause or give up. Cleburne, Granbury, and other officers accepted the change in command and set an example for their men by staying the course and not voicing displeasure. This leadership is what helped keep the spirits of the Texans high as they prepared to...