Earl Van Dorn (September 17, 1820May 7, 1863) was a Confederate Major General who started his military career as a United States Army officer and became famous for successfully leading two defenses of a Native American settlement from the Comanche. He joined Confederate forces in 1861 after the Civil War broke out and was a major general when he was killed in a private conflict.
A great-nephew of Andrew Jackson, he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy, graduating in 1842. Earl Van Dorn was known for fighting with distinction during the Mexican–American War and in defense of Native-American settlements against the attacking Comanche in the West in addition to his impressive victories as a cavalry commander during the American Civil War.
Although he opposed the secession of slave states in 1861, Van Dorn sided with the Confederacy in the ensuing civil war. Fighting in the Western Theater as a major general, he captured the Union transport ship Star of the West at Matagorda Bay, forcing the first surrender of the Civil War—a move that drew national attention and led President Lincoln to label him a pirate.U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series I, Vol. 1, p. 478. Government Printing Office, 1880.
He was later appointed commander of the Trans-Mississippi District. At the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, in early March 1862, Van Dorn was commanding infantry rather than cavalry, which was his expertise, and though brilliantly battling early on, was defeated by a smaller Union force. He had abandoned his supply wagons for speed, leaving his men under-equipped in cold weather. At the Second Battle of Corinth in October 1862, he was again commanding infantry instead of his specialty, which was cavalry. Van Dorn was winning only to be defeated because of a failure of his reconnaissance team and was removed from infantry command. The battle was later described by Confederate President Jefferson Davis as an "impossibility" because many soldiers Van Dorn had inherited were starving and diseased. Davis said that Van Dorn handled the command "masterfully".
Van Dorn scored two additional notable successes as a cavalry commander, in which role he never lost, capturing a large U.S. supply depot in the Holly Springs Raid, embarrassing U.S. General Ulysses S. Grant by saving Vicksburg and protecting the Confederacy's main port.
His next success was the Battle of Thompson's Station, Tennessee.
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.
Early life and career Van Dorn was born near Port Gibson, Mississippi, on September 17, 1820.Welsh, Medical Histories of Confederate Generals, pp. 220–221 His parents were Sophia Donelson Caffery, a niece of Andrew Jackson, and Peter Aaron Van Dorn, a lawyer who had moved from New Jersey years earlier. He had eight siblings, including sisters Emily Van Dorn Miller and Octavia Van Dorn (Ross) Sulivane. His sister Octavia had a son, Clement Sulivane, who became a captain in the CSA forces and served on Van Dorn's staff; he later was promoted to lieutenant colonel.
In 1838, Van Dorn enrolled in the United States Military Academy at West Point. His mother's connection to Andrew Jackson secured him an appointment there.Foote, Vol. I, p. 278. He graduated 52nd out of 68 cadets in the class of 1842 with the low rank largely due to 163 demerits given for failing to salute in passing, tobacco, and profanity.Eicher, Civil War High Commands, p. 542. He was appointed a brevet second lieutenant in the 7th U.S. Infantry Regiment on July 1, 1842, and began his army service in the Southern United States.
After graduation, in December 1843, he married Caroline Godbold, daughter of a prominent Alabama planter family. They had two children together: son Earl Van Dorn Jr. (1855–?) and daughter Olivia (1852–1878).1860 U.S. Federal Census for Garrison, Mason, Texas, family 93 p. 1 of 4, available on ancestry.com
Van Dorn and the 7th were on garrison duty at Fort Pike, Louisiana, in 1842–43, and were stationed at Fort Morgan, Alabama, briefly in 1843. He did garrison duty at the Mount Vernon Arsenal in Alabama from 1843 into 1844. He was ordered to Pensacola harbor in Florida from 1844 to 1845, during which Van Dorn was promoted to second lieutenant on November 30, 1844.
Fame, attractiveness, and womanizing
The blond-haired, blue-eyed Earl Van Dorn had a wide reputation for being desired by women, and this was evident when he traveled. His stardom was compounded following his victories over the Comanche and tales of his heroics in the Mexican-American War. According to historian Arthur B. Carter, "...Van Dorn had ample opportunity to participate in the social life of the community. Handsome, debonair, and polished, he presented a dashing figure in Confederate gray, so it was not surprising that he was a major attraction and the center of attention at public and private events. His knowledge of the social graces, coupled with his upbringing and education, drew attractive women to him, which he apparently did little to discourage."
The New York Times concurred, stating, "It's true that Van Dorn was enormously attractive to many women — one memoirist wrote that 'his bearing attracted, his address delighted, his accomplishments made women worship him.'"
War with Mexico Van Dorn was part of the 7th U.S. Infantry when Texas was occupied by the U.S. Army from 1845 into 1846. During the early stages of the Mexican–American War, he was garrisoned at Fort Texas (Fort Brown) in Brownsville, defending the border from the southernmost town in Texas.Dupuy, p. 771.
Van Dorn saw action at the Battle of Monterrey on September 21–23, 1846, and during the Siege of Vera Cruz from March 9–29, 1847. He was transferred to Gen. Winfield Scott's command in early 1847 and promoted to first lieutenant on March 3. Van Dorn fought well in the rest of his engagements in Mexico, earning himself two brevet promotions for performance; he was appointed a brevet captain on April 18 for his participation at the Battle of Cerro Gordo, and to major on August 20 for his actions near Mexico City, including the Battle of Contreras, the Battle of Churubusco, and at the Belén Gate. Van Dorn was wounded in the foot near Mexico City on September 3, and wounded again during the storming of Belén Gate on September 13.
After the war with Mexico, Van Dorn served as aide-de-camp to Brev. Maj. Gen Persifor F. Smith from April 3, 1847, to May 20, 1848. He and the 7th were in garrison at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from 1848 into 1849. Later in 1849, they served at Jefferson Barracks in Lemay, Missouri, south of St. Louis. He saw action in Florida against the Seminoles from 1849 to 1850 as the United States tried to dislodge them from the region. Some Seminoles succeeded in evading those efforts and survived in the Everglades; they were the ancestors of two federally recognized Seminole tribes in Florida today. Van Dorn served with the recruiting service in 1850 and 1851.
From 1852 to 1855, Van Dorn was stationed at the East Pascagoula Branch Military Asylum in Mississippi, serving as secretary and then treasurer of the post. He spent the remainder of 1855 stationed at New Orleans, Louisiana, briefly on recruiting service again, and later garrisoned again at Jefferson Barracks. He was promoted to captain in the 2nd Cavalry on March 3, 1855.
Van Dorn and the 2nd were on frontier duty at Fort Belknap and Camp Cooper, Texas, in 1855 and 1856, scouting in northern Texas in 1856 and fought a minor skirmish with Comanche on July 1, 1856. He was assigned to Camp Colorado, Texas, from 1856 to 1857, scouting duty again in 1857, returned to Camp Colorado from 1857 to 1858, and was finally stationed in 1858 at Fort Chadbourne located in Coke County, Texas.
Battles Against Comanche Van Dorn saw further action against Native Americans: separately against the Seminole, many of whom had been removed to Indian Territory. He also successfully led an offensive against the Comanche, who attacked new Native American settlements there that the United States had promised to protect. The U.S. military had struggled against the Comanche, but Van Dorn's vanquishing of the Comanche was described as "a victory more decisive and complete in the history of Indian warfare" by General David Emmanuel Twiggs.
He was wounded four separate times while in Indian Territory, including seriously when he commanded the first expedition against the Comanche and took two arrows (one in his left arm and another in his right side, injuring his stomach and a lung) at the Battle of Wichita Village on October 1, 1858. Not expected to live, Van Dorn recovered in five weeks. He led six companies of cavalry and a company of scouts recruited from the Brazos Reservation in a spring campaign against the Comanche in 1859. He located the camp of Buffalo Hump in Kansas (in a valley he erroneously identified as the Nescutunga or Nessentunga) and defeated them on May 13, 1859. His forces killed 49 persons, wounded five, and captured 32 Comanche women.
He served at Fort Mason, Texas, in 1859 and 1860. While at Fort Mason, Van Dorn was promoted to major on June 28, 1860. He was absent from the U.S. Army for the rest of 1860 and into 1861.
American Civil War
Van Dorn was initially resistant to the idea of war between Americans and made efforts to prevent its outbreak. Despite his later support for the Confederacy, Van Dorn held onto the hope that the deepening national crisis could be resolved without bloodshed. His reluctance and efforts to prevent the conflict were marked by a certain naivety, as he underestimated the inevitability of the Civil War. This idealism led him to be somewhat delusional about the likelihood of war, as he clung to the belief that a peaceful resolution was still possible even as tensions escalated. As the Civil War began, Van Dorn enlisted in the Confederate States Army. He resigned from his U.S. Army commission, which was accepted effective January 31, 1861. He was appointed a brigadier general in the Mississippi Militia on January 23. In February, he replaced Jefferson Davis as major general and commander of Mississippi's state forces after Davis was selected as the Confederacy's President.
After resigning from the Mississippi Militia on March 16, 1861, Van Dorn entered the Regular Confederate States Army as a colonel of infantry on that same date. He was sent west to raise and lead a volunteer brigade within the new Confederate Department of Texas. On April 11, he was given command of Confederate forces in Texas and ordered to arrest and detain any U.S. troops in the state who refused to join the Confederate Army.Fredrickson, p. 21.
Van Dorn declared pirate by Lincoln