Hood , a N. E. county of Texas, intersected by the Brazos river, and watered by numerous tributaries of that stream; area, 614 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 2,585, of whom 97 were colored.

The surface is greatly diversified, being to a considerable extent broken and rugged, and consisting of mingled prairie and timber land. The highest point is Comanche peak, near the centre of the county, rising 600 ft. above the Brazos. The soil is a red or black sandy loam, and is very productive. Building stone is abundant. The chief productions in 1870 were 192,540 bushels of Indian corn, 11,352 of sweet potatoes, 45,155 lbs. of butter, and 779 bales of cotton. There were 3,442 horses, 3,348 milch cows, 16,098 other cattle, 2,453 sheep, and 10,452 swine. Capital, Granbury.

Hood #1

Hood ,.I. Samuel, Viscount, a British admiral, born at Thorncombe, Devonshire, Dec. 12, 1724, died in Bath, Jan. 27, 1816. He was the son of the rector of his native place, entered the navy at the age of 16, and became post captain in 1756. In 1757 he was appointed to the command of the Antelope, a 50-gun ship, with which he captured a French vessel of equal size; and in 1759, having been transferred to the Vestal of 32 guns, and attached to the expedition sent against Quebec, he captured the French frigate Bellona, after a battle of four hours. On his return he was presented to George II., who gave him commnnd of the Africa of 64 guns. He was present at the bombardment of Havre, was employed two years on the coast of Ireland, and during the remainder of the war under Sir Charles Saunders in the Mediterranean. From Nov. 14, 1768, to July 13, 1769, he was at Boston, then occupied by British troops, as "commander-in-chief of all the men-of-war in those parts." In 1778 he was made a baronet, and in 1780 rear admiral of the blue, with which rank ho joined Rodney in the West Indies the same year. On April 28,1781, he encountered De Grasse with a French fleet superior in numbers, but the latter avoided an engagement.

He fought a drawn battle with De Grasse during the same year near Chesapeake bay, but could not prevent its blockade nor the surrender of the British army. In the great battle of April 12,1782, when De Grasse was defeated, Hood commanded the van division of the fleet under Rodney, and was in the same year created an Irish peer, under the title of Baron Hood. When the war with France commenced in 1793 he was sent to the Mediterranean to aid the royalists of the south, who surrendered Toulon to him. When the republicans under Bonaparte were about to regain possession of the place, which was no longer tenable, Hood destroyed the arsenal and dockyard, and 32 French ships, and withdrew with his fleet. In 1794 he expelled the French from Corsica and blockaded the port of Genoa. In 179G he was raised to the English peerage as Viscount Hood of Whitley, and in 1799 became admiral of the red. II. Alexander, Viscount Bridport, brother of the preceding, born in 1727, died in Bath, May 3, 1814. He entered the naval service, and early became distinguished by the capture of two French vessels of war in two actions in Hyeres bay in 1757. He passed rapidly through the lower grades, and in 1782, as rear admiral, was second in command of the fleet sent out under Lord Howe to relieve Gibraltar. In 1794 he contributed materially to Lord Howe's great victory with the channel fleet, his flag being hoisted on the Royal George, which sustained the hottest of the fire.

In the same year he was created an Irish peer, under the title of Baron Bridport. In 1795 he attacked the French fleet of 12 ships of the line and 10 frigates, off Lorient, with an inferior force, and captured three sail of the line. For this he was in 1790 made a British peer as Baron Bridport, and in 1800 Viscount Bridport.