In 1862 Hood was promoted to brigadier general and given command of what became known as "Hood's Texas Brigade" which is widely held to have been the best brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia gaining the reputation of being the army's "shock troops" and even called by some "Lee's Grenadier Guards". Hood's Texas Brigade was always thrown in when the fighting was toughest and always on the attack Hood and his Texans never disappointed. At the Battle of Gaine's Mill General Hood personally led his brigade in a ferocious charge that broke the Union line and proved to be the most outstanding action of any unit during the campaign. In recognition of this, Hood was given command of a division and earned further praise in the massive attack that almost wiped out the Union army of John Pope at the 2nd Battle of Manassas. Following the engagement Hood had a disagreement with a fellow officer that caused Longstreet to have him arrested and may have dismissed him had not General Lee intervened on behalf of his best divisional commander.
At the battle of South Mountain during the march into Maryland Hood was still under arrest when his troops were ordered to the front. As the Texas brigade marched past General Lee they all called out, "Give us Hood!" which Lee promptly did. During the gruesome battle of Anteitam Hood distinguished himself yet again. When Stonewall Jackson's line near Dunker Church was on the verge of collapse Hood and his Texans charged in with a counter-attack so fierce and crushing that the Union offensive was shattered and fell back in stunned confusion. Hood had saved the day, but had taken heavy casualties, the 1st Texas Infantry being all but wiped out attacking through a nearbye cornfield. General Jackson was so impressed he recommended Hood's promotion to major general.
After Anteitam, Hood was forced to miss a lot of action. His division was mostly unengaged during the battle of Fredericksburg and was absent from Lee's great victory at Chancellorsville as most of Longstreet's corps had been sent to gather provisions and fulfill other duties in Suffolk, where Hood first met Sally Preston. But, Hood was in the thick of the fighting at the battle of Gettysburg. On the second day General Lee had intended for Hood's division to attack the Union army from the flank over Little Round Top hill. However, unknown to Lee, the Union troops had extended their line across the hill and occupied the rocky area in front of it known as "Devil's Den". Hood protested to Longstreet that such an attack would likely be futile; a frontal assault against troops with good cover and command of the high ground but Longstreet ordered the attack to go forward without change. Always leading from the front, Hood was badly wounded by shrapnel from an artillery shell that almost cost him his left arm. It would remain paralyzed the rest of his life. Although Hood's division captured the Devil's Den they were unable to take Little Round Top.
While General Hood recovered in Richmond he became quite a local celebrity for his aggressiveness and audacity in battle. Many were surprised at the fearsome General Hood's appearance; young, tall, skinny, fair-haired, sad faced and terribly shy. During this time Hood was also hopelessy smitten with a beautiful and flirtatious young Richmond socialite named Sally "Buck" Preston. Hood wanted the young lady more than anything in the world, but despite his best efforts she continued to lead him on only to back away at the last minute. However, Hood was soon taken away from his torturous sweetheart when Longstreet's corps was transferred to Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee which had just been forced to retreat to northwestern Georgia. Even with his arm in a sling Hood had lost none of his zest for battle and when a hole appeared in the Union lines Hood's men rushed in and split the federal army, sending half fleeing back to Chattanooga in confusion. However, once again, Hood was severely wounded by a bullet to his right leg. The limb had to be amputated at the hip, a serious operation for the time, and Hood returned to Richmond to recover.
