Of the many infantry brigades in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, John Bell Hood's Texas Brigade earned the reputation as perhaps the premier unit. From 1862 until Lee's surrender at Appomattox, the brigade fought in most of the major campaigns in the Eastern Theater and several more in the Western, including the Seven Days, Second Manassas (Second Bull Run), Sharpsburg (Antietam), Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Knoxville, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, the siege of Richmond and Petersburg, and Appomattox. Distinguished for its fierce tenacity and fighting ability, the brigade suffered some of the war's highest casualties. This volume chronicles Hood's Texas Brigade from its formation through postwar commemorations, providing a soldier's-eye view of the daring and bravery of this remarkable unit.

Hood's Brigade was to Hood like Napoleon''s Army and Lee's army was to them.

"One of Lee's most dependable brigades" Harold Simpson, Civil War History The Texas Brigade distinguished itself for its dogged tenacity and tremendous fighting ability throughout the American Civil War. As a division of the Army of Northern Virginia these Texans fought in most battles that Lee led his army to, the only exception was Chancellorsville, but the brigade more than made up for it by combating the Union at Suffolk, Chickamauga, and Nashville. J. B. Polley, at the age of only twenty-one when the war broke out, enlisted in Company F of the Fourth Texas Infantry, a regiment in Hood's Brigade. His eyewitness account, along with the reminiscences of many of his comrades and numerous battle reports written various generals form the basis of his book. Although commonly known as "Hood's Texas Brigade" Polley explains that the Brigade was initially formed by John Allen Wilcox and under the command of Louis T. Wigfall before it came under the control of the brave, and at times reckless, leader John Bell Hood who gave the brigade its eponymous name. Polley takes the reader through the actions of the brigade battle by battle, interspersing these engagements with details on their lives through the war. Hood's Texas Brigade, along with the Stonewall Brigade, were considered to be the Confederate Army's best shock troops. By the end of the war of those who had enlisted only ten per cent remained to surrender at Appomattox. This book is essential reading for anyone interesting in one of the most important Confederate regiments and the impact that they made on the war between the states. J. B. Polley served valiantly through the American Civil War and saw many major engagements. He was eventually forced out of the army after he lost a foot at the Battle of Darbytown Road in October, 1864. After the war he became a lawyer and was commissioned by the Hood's Texas Brigade Association to write Hood's Texas Brigade, which was published in 1910. He died in Texas in 1918.

Traces the history of Texas during the Civil War from the passage of the secession ordinance in Austin through the battle of Palmito Ranch, and includes information about Texas sites associated with the war.