Earl Van Dorn
Confederate Army general
Died when: 42 years 232 days (511 months)Star Sign: Virgo
Earl Van Dorn (September 17, 1820 – May 7, 1863) started his military career as a United States Army officer but joined Confederate forces in 1861 after the Civil War broke out.
He was a major general when he was killed in a private conflict.A great-nephew of Andrew Jackson, he received an appointment to West Point Academy, graduating in 1842.
He was notable for fighting with distinction during the Mexican–American War and against several tribes of Native Americans in the West.
In the American Civil War, he sided with the Confederacy, fighting in the Western Theater as a major general.He was appointed commander of the Trans-Mississippi District.
At the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, in early March 1862, he was defeated by a smaller Union force.He had abandoned his supply wagons for the sake of speed, leaving his men under-equipped in cold weather.
At the Second Battle of Corinth in October 1862, he was again defeated through a failure of reconnaissance, and was removed from high command.
He scored two notable successes as a cavalry commander, capturing a large Union supply depot in the Holly Springs Raid and an enemy brigade at the Battle of Thompson's Station, Tennessee.
Van Dorn's successful raid of Holly Springs delayed the potential expulsion of Jewish people from Union General Ulysses S.Grant's military district.
Van Dorn's reputation was restored but short-lived.In May 1863, he was shot dead at his headquarters at Spring Hill by a doctor who claimed that Van Dorn had carried on an affair with his wife.
Van Dorn never achieved military greatness, but is considered to have been a brilliant cavalry commander.
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