John S. Hood was born in 1845 in the Captain David District, Franklin Co., GA to parents: Stephen Reed Hood, a farmer and Justice of the Peace, and his wife, Jane (Sewell) Hood. He moved with his family to the Captain Pool District, Jackson Co., GA in 1849

The November 1850 US Census of Subdivision 45, Jackson Co., GA enumerated the household of 33 Y/O Stephen Reed Hood, born in GA, and his 29 Y/O wife, Jane (Sewell) Hood, born in GA. Living in the household were their children all of whom were born in GA: 8 Y/O Angeline Hood; 6 Y/O John S. Hood; 3 Y/O William H. Hood and 8 months old James M. Hood. Stephen was a farmer with 170 acres of land valued at $500.00 cash.

Records show that when John S. Hood was 11 Y/O, he migrated with his family from Jackson Co., GA to Cherokee Co., AL soon after 25 Nov 1855. This is confirmed by the 25 Nov 1855 Georgia birth date of his sister, Huldah J. Hood, the last Georgia born child, and the 14 Feb 1857 Alabama birth date of his brother, George Washington Hood, the first child born in Alabama. Angeline Hood, his oldest sibling, was 13 Y/O at the time and many years later related the difficulties encountered during that adventure-filled covered wagon journey. Stephen Reed Hood became a large landowner in Cherokee Co., AL. His occupation was farmer and he was the first Minister of the Advent Christian Church in North Alabama and, about 1857, was the founder of the Lebanon Advent Christian Church which was located in Coats Bend near the Coosa River and eight miles north of Gadsden, Alabama.

The 1860 US Census of Kings Hill, Cherokee Co., AL enumerated the household of 42 Y/O Stephen Reed Hood, a Baptist minister and farmer, and his 39 Y/O wife, Jane (Sewell) Hood. His estate was valued at $3000.00. Also living in the household were their children: 17 Y/O Angeline Hood, born in GA; 15 Y/O John S. Hood, born in GA; 13 Y/O William H. Hood, born in GA; 11 Y/O James H. Hood, born in GA; 9 Y/O Mary Hood, born in GA, 7 Y/O Simeon Hood, born in GA; 5 Y/O daughter, Huldah Hood, born in GA; 3 Y/O George Washington Hood, born in Alabama, and 6 months old Susan Hood, born in Alabama.

On 12 Apr 1861, the beginning of the Civil War, John S. Hood was 16 years old, unmarried, living at home, and like most young men in his area, he worked on the family farm.

Stephen Reed Hood supported the War for Southern Independence and in 1861 he helped organize the Cherokee Beauregards, a local home guard unit in Cherokee Co., AL. He was also elected Captain and his oldest son, John S. Hood, who was his only child of military age during the War Between the States joined the company as a private. To note its location and martial spirit, the unit was named after Cherokee County and Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, the hero of Fort Sumter and the Battle of First Manassas. The Cherokee Beauregards (around 115 men) did its initial training in Dublin, Alabama (now Leesburg), and mustered into Confederate service in Montgomery, AL on September 17, 1861. The unit then became Company "D" in the 22nd Alabama Infantry Regiment. Stephen Reed Hood was again elected captain.

The 22nd Alabama Infantry was organized in Montgomery, AL in the fall of 1861, and Zachariah C. Deas, a former soldier in the Mexican War and a wealthy cotton broker in Mobile, AL, recruited men from Walker, Clarke, Cherokee, Mobile, Pike, Choctaw, Montgomery, Calhoun, and Randolph Counties. Deas was elected Colonel of the regiment and received a Confederate States Army commission on October 25, 1861. Also, Colonel Deas used his own funds ($28,000.00 in gold) to equip the regiment with the latest British Enfield rifles. Thus, the 22nd Alabama Infantry Regiment (almost 1,000 strong) was one of the best equipped units in the Confederacy. Completing its organization in Montgomery in November 1861, the unit was sent to Mobile, AL where it trained extensively and defended that city (along with the 19th and 25th Alabama Infantry Regiments) during the winter of 1861-1862 (Brewer 1872:624; Faust 1986:212).

Unfortunately, like many army camps in the north and south during the Civil War, illness and disease was a serious problem. This was the time before modern medicine and little was known about diseases, the causes, and prevention. Consequently, there was poor sanitation (particularly in the early years of the war), food storage problems caused numerous cases of diarrhea and dysentery, there were outbreaks of typhoid fever (caused by dirty water), malaria and yellow fever were problems in summer, and men from rural areas had little resistance to communicable diseases such as measles and mumps. Also, these diseases were often complicated by pneumonia (Beller 1992:25-26). As a result of these conditions and the close quarters, there was a serious measles epidemic that broke out among the troops in Mobile that winter. Consequently, many men became seriously ill or died. Those that did survive were often too weak to serve further, and were discharged from the service and sent home (Driskell 1997:4).

By April 1, 1862, the 22nd Alabama Infantry could only muster 435 officers and men that were fit for duty. This was less than half of the men the regiment had started out with in the fall of 1861 (Deas 1862:1). Captain Stephen R. Hood also became ill that winter and received a surgeon's certificate of physical disability which was endorsed by General Braxton Bragg, the Gulf District Commander. Consequently, Stephen Hood resigned his commission on January 10, 1862. He then returned to Cherokee County and resumed his career in the ministry, serving in that capacity until his death on September 13, 1883. His 17 year old son, Private John S. Hood, however, continued to serve in the regiment. During the winter and spring of 1862 there was a major crisis in the western Confederacy. It began with the Union capture of Forts Henry and Donelson in Kentucky in February 1862, and the resulting loss of Kentucky, the City of Nashville (an important industrial center, army supply depot, and Tennessee state capital), and all of middle Tennessee. Consequently, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Albert Sidney Johnston (Commander of the Western Department), and General P.G.T. Beauregard rushed troops to plug the gap in the Confederate defense line, form a new army in Corinth, Mississippi (designated the Army of the Mississippi), and initiate a counter offensive (Sword 1994:11).

Corinth was a strategic railroad junction and Confederate troops were sent there from Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Gulf states to form the new army. The 22nd Alabama Infantry and three other Alabama regiments (21st, 25th, and 26th) were sent there from Mobile and Pensacola, Florida in the middle of March 1862 and were brigaded with the 1st Louisiana Infantry Regiment and Robertson's Battery under Brigadier General Adley H. Gladden of Louisiana. This new unit, the 1st Brigade of Wither's Division, was known as Gladden's Brigade and had a total strength of 2,250 men (Deas 1862:1). Remarkably, by April 1, 1862 General A.S. Johnston's new Army of the Mississippi grew to 56,000 men (according to muster rolls), but only 45,000 were available for combat (Allen 2001:16).

The 22nd Alabama Infantry Regiment entered the Battle of Shiloh with 435 officers and men, but by the end of the battle only 123 men were fit for duty. This was a result of the fierce fighting that took place at the Hornet's Nest on April 6th. (Deas 1862: 1-2). Although muster rolls for the regiment were lost or destroyed after the war, it is believed John S. Hood (then 17 years old) participated in the battle, survived without being wounded (he does not appear on the detailed casualty list for the regiment), and made his way back to Corinth with the army. However, his service record indicates that he soon became seriously ill, most likely with typhoid fever. He was initially treated in Corinth, but was then sent to a Confederate hospital in Macon, Mississippi. He lived for another month, but died of his illness there on 01 Jun 1862. He was buried with other Confederate soldiers in the Odd Fellows Cemetery near Macon, Noxubee Co., MS. John Hood's death by disease is confirmed in his Confederate service record.

Sources:
1) "The Cherokee Beauregards and the Road to Shiloh: The Military Careers of Captain Stephen R. Hood and Private John S. Hood" by George H. McCluskey, 2010.
2) "The John and Richard Hood Clan of Halifax County, Virginia; Burke County, North Carolina; and Pendleton and Greenville Districts, South Carolina" by Clyde B. Hood III, 2013, pp197, 198, 200.

Bio by Gresham Farrar.