Heartache of Hood
Sally had been quite receptive of Hood's attentions and when the young general rode off to the battle of Gettysburg he had every reason to believe there was a sweetheart waiting for him in Richmond. Unknown to him, he would be seeing her sooner than he thought when on July 2, 1863 he was badly wounded by shrapnel, almost losing his left arm. Sent back to Richmond covered with glory he was soon courting Miss Preston once again. However, Sally was sought after by most of the well-to-do men of Richmond and was much more fond of being fussed over than she was of the wirey Texan who was positively aching for her. It was in 1863 that General Hood proposed to "Buck" for the first time and, as was her habit, she kept him dangling, refusing to say yes but never actually saying no.
Many in Richmond society were worried by the news. Sally was never long without male companionship but her previous lovers had a habit of turning up dead. One was killed in a duel, one in a charge at the battle of Gaine's Mill and another at the battle of Fredericksburg. Yet, there was never any shortage of those willing to take their place, a fact which led Johnny Chestnut to comment that it was safer to face a Federal battery than to fall in love with Sally Preston. The more superstitious even worried about a curse, noting that since falling in love with Sally, "Sam" Hood had already lost the use of an arm and after his first proposal was on his way to the battle of Chickamauga where he was almost killed and had to have his right leg amputated. When he returned to Richmond again for recovery, Sally calmly said she had never cared much for him anyway and wouldn't marry him, "if he had a thousand legs, instead of just having lost one". In fact, the first day Hood came to call Sally refused to see him, claiming illness.
Sadly, it was during his recovery in Richmond that Sam's love for "Buck" seemed to take over his entire existence. So many scrapes with death had made him aware of how short life could be, and his many wounds troubled him greatly. For Hood, young Sally seemed like the answer to all of his many woes. After finally seeing him for the first time since his injury Sally seemed sympathetic again but when pressed could only come up with the statement that she didn't know if she loved him or not. A few days later, while riding in a carriage with Mrs Mary Chestnut (noted diarist) and Sally, Hood asked his driver the symptoms of love. Once told, he claimed to have never experienced them but that there were rumors of his numerous engagements. Sally seemed unconcerned but asked for names to which Hood responded by including her own. She asked if he was annoyed by such a rumor, he strongly said no. Sally then countered that rumors had her engaged to several young men, Hood not among them, to which Hood angrily threatened to set a mantrap near her door.
Later, Hood seemed depressed at his condition and inferior to the younger men with 4 working limbs but got no encouragement from Mrs. Chestnut. He later said dejectedly that he would not marry at all even if he could as any "silly girl" who would marry a cripple like him would be throwing her life away. He might not have really meant it though as when the friend he was talking to repeated this statement to the Preston girls, and when they agreed that such an outlook made sense, Hood threatened to break a crutch over his head. Certainly, Hood had reason to be despondant. Before Christmas he had proposed to Sally yet again and had been refused. Downcast about his defeat, he called the romance the hardest battle he'd ever fought in his life and could not sleep. Yet, Hood could not recover from his desire for "Buck" and the next month ordered a diamond ring from Europe. In January, Hood and Sally were seen everywhere together again and friends wished he would hurry up and recover and return to the army as Sally was making a fool of him. Another officer dismissed her as a flirt who just had sympathy for the battle-worn Hood. Mrs. Chestnut said Sally had never been in love with any of her gentlemen admirers, that she probably did not even know what love is and that she was certainly not in love with Sam Hood. But, Hood's love for her was so great, he could not see reason. Her antics were only symptoms of childishness and in love as in war Hood knew only one tactic: to take the offensive and stay with it. On the battlefield, his audacity had never failed him and he believed that if he pressed on with enough determination he would, as always emerge successful. Not everyone agreed and could only say sadly about the love-struck general that he had, "the heart of a lion and a head of wood".
At the conclusion of a play Hood and Sally attended she came to his aid when he was being pressed all around by admirers anxious to see the famous, wounded general. People watching, and no doubt Hood himself, thought she was showing a real interest again and protecting "her man". Other more cynical onlookers dismissed it as sheer dramatizing on Sally's part and a sheer need to be included in any shower of attention. The courtship would certainly have been enough to infuriate any man. Only the night before the play, Sally had told Hood that she "could" care for him were it not for the objections of her status-conscience parents. Yet, later at the Chestnuts she regretted saying it, protested that it wasn't really true and wished Hood would just leave town and go back to the front. Statements like that, along with her previous record caused many to believe that "Buck" wanted to be the girl of a war hero but didn't actually want the warrior himself.
This raised some eyebrows later when Hood was promoted to lieutenant general and assigned to command a corps in Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee. As soon as word got out Sally seemed much more receptive to Hood's attention toward her and even half-way consented to an engagement, though as usual she was not definite. Hood had offered her his hand while the pair were out riding and when she scolded him for bringing up the subject again Sam demanded a simple "yes" or "no" answer from the girl. Sally claimed she didn't want to cause a scene so she placed her hand in his, which instantly brought an expression of the greatest joy to the usually sad-faced Texan. When word got out, Mrs. Chestnut was furious; certain that Sally was not being genuine and that the young general who had already lost an arm and a leg to the war was setting himself up for a massive broken heart. Furthermore, the elitist Prestons were upset and postponed making the announcement, but Hood was irrepressibly jubilant. He gushed, "I am so proud, so grateful! The sun never shone on a happier man! Such a girl, a queen among women". Hood thought himself on top of the world. In spite of all the suffering he had already endured, with Sally promised to him, he saw only good times ahead. He would go to Georgia, thrash General Sherman, liberate Tennessee and Kentucky then sweep around to Virginia, join up with Lee, win the war and come home to marry the woman of his dreams all covered with laurels and glory.
Yet, happiness with "Buck" was to be denied him. Not long after returning to the front, rumors reached him that Sally had been flirting with Johnny Chestnut and that the Prestons were carrying on as if there was no engagement at all, and Sally could honestly say she never actually said yes to his latest proposal, though she certainly did nothing to correct his impression that she accepted. When Hood was promoted to command the Army of Tennessee many on-lookers said his reckless attacks and ferocity were the result of a wounded heart, lashing out to make the Yankees suffer along with him as his ideal woman was slipping away just when he thought he had won her over. Some even believed that when Hood launched his bold and ultimately doomed invasion of Tennessee he was simply trying to impress Sally in the hope that winning a great victory over impossible odds would gain him her affections again. It did not turn out well. After his stunning defeat at Nashville, Hood was heartbroken. Sally was extremely cold toward him, the public no longer viewed him as a hero in spite of his past service and victory. He was in every way a broken man, both in love and on the battlefield. Sally however, never turned from her contradictory ways. When Hood left Sally forever as he rode off to Texas Sally moaned to Mrs. Chestnut that she was genuinely sad and tried to convince her that it had been her parents fault the engagement failed and if Hood had persisted, and dealt only with her instead of asking her parents permission, she would have married him under any circumstances. Mary Chestnut was not convinced. The war ended before Hood reached Texas and he settled in New Orleans. The Preston family all moved to Paris, France and the two never saw each other again.