I'm in agreement with your post except to lay the blame for results at Lickskillet Road entirely at Hood's feet. If I'm not mistaken, Hood directed Stephen D. Lee to "prevent the enemy from gaining Lick Skillet Road, and not to attack unless the enemy exposes himself in attacking us." Official Records, vol. XXXVIII, pt. 5, p. 919.

The disaster at Lickskillet Road, one of the most costly Confederate defeats during the war, took place because Lee
1) Misunderstood his orders, or
2) Misunderstood the battlefield situation, or
3) Decided attack regardless of his orders and the battlefield situation.

Evidence points towards option 3. Lee had just arrived two days earlier, and had no opportunity to familize himself with his command or the ground at Lickskillet. Yet Lee did not hestitate to send one division after another to attack an enemy whose strength was undetermined and whose position he did not bother to study. If anything, Hood should be faulted for not sifting through the limited number of commanders left to him and selecting another man who could at least follow orders.

Stephen D. Lee had not learned from his mistakes in a similar attack at Harrisburg MS which cost Forrest many of his best officers and men. He did not alter his plan of attack at Jonesboro GA, another failure which obliged Hood to abandon Atlanta. While not absolving General Hood for his own errors, which were numerous, I suggest that we not overlook the noteworthy contributions made to Confederate defeat by Stephen D. Lee.