ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the social and cultural dynamics of leadership, command, and soldiering in Hood's Texas Brigade for clues to unravel the broader enigma of the antebellum southern social structure, particularly with regard to the place and status of plain folk, yeoman farmers, and other non-elite whites. It explains how popular constitutional ideas and traditional forms of community action affected the performance of one of the elite fighting units in the Army of Northern Virginia. The only Texas troops to serve in Virginia, Hood's Brigade earned a reputation for fierce fighting that won them the acclaim of every general officer who commanded them. The Texas soldiers' use of the charivari to uphold the right to humiliate officers and other persons who offended them blended easily with their plebeian constitutional ideas. The Texas volunteers approved of Hood's appointment because of his reputation as an Indian fighter on the Texas frontier, which accounts for his initial acceptance without much opposition.
