Hood (ho?od), John Bell 1831-1879. American Confederate army officer who conducted the defense of Atlanta against Union troops led by General William T. Sherman (1864) and was defeated at Nashville later that year.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.