Earl Van Dorn
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1820-1863
One of the Confederacy's most promising general officers early in the
Civil War, Mississippian West Pointer (1842) Earl Van Dorn proved to
be a disappointment and died, not at the hands of the enemy but at
those of a jealous husband.
Posted to the infantry, he had won two brevets in the Mexican War,
being wounded at the City of Mexico. Transferring to the cavalry in
1855, he was wounded in Indian fighting in 1858 near wichita Village,
Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).
Resigning as a major in the 2nd Cavalry on January 31, 1861, he
offered his services to his native state. His assignments included:
brigadier general, Mississippi State Troops (ca. January 1861); major
general, Mississippi State Troops (ca. February 1861); colonel,
Cavalry (March 16, 1861); commanding Department of Texas (April 21 -
September 4, 1861); brigadier general, CSA (June 5, 1861); major
general, CSA (September 19, 1861); commanding division, lst Corps,
Army of the Potomac (October 4-22, 1861); commanding Ist Division,
Potomac District, Department of Northern Virginia (October 22, 1861 -
January 10, 1862); commanding Trans-Mississippi District, Department
#2 (March 4 - June 20, 1862); commanding Department of Southern
Mississippi and East Louisiana (June 20 - July 2, 1862); commanding
District of the Mississippi, Department #2 (July 2 - October 1,
1862); commanding Army of West Tennessee, Department of Mississippi
and East Louisiana (October 1862); commanding lst Corps, Army of the
Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana (December 1862);
commanding cavalry division, Army of the Department of Mississippi
and East Louisiana (January 13 - 20, 1863); commanding Cavalry Corps,
Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana (January 20 - February
1863); and commanding cavalry division, Army of Tennessee (February
25 - May 7, 1863). Early in the war he commanded in Texas where he
seized U.S. property and received the surrender of regular army
detachments. Promoted rapidly to brigadier and major general, he was
ordered to Virginia where he led a division near Manassas.
Early in 1862 he was sent to command in Arkansas in order to get Ben
McCulloch and Sterling Price to cooperate.
Launching an attack at Pea Ridge, he was repulsed after two days of
fighting. Ordered east of the Mississippi, he arrived too late to
take part in the fighting at Shiloh but participated in the
unsuccessful defense of Corinth, Mississippi.
In the summer of 1862 he successfully defended Vicksburg but failed
in his designs on Baton Rouge when the attack under John C.
Breckinridge failed.
Another failure occurred when he attempted to retake Corinth in
October 1862. By this time many Southerners were disenchanted with
him, and he was placed in charge of the mounted troops under
Pemberton. His raid on Holly Springs, Mississippi, was a major factor
in ending Grant's campaign in central Mississippi.
Moving his division into middle Tennessee, he was killed on May 7,
1863, by Dr. George B. Peters for attentions paid by the general upon
the physician's wife in Spring Hill.
