Earl Van Dorn

Earl Van Dorn was a United States Army officer who resigned his commission after Mississippi seceded and became a Confederate general during the Civil War. In 1862 he assumed command of Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi and attempted to recover Missouri by defeating the Union Army of the Southwest.

Van Dorn’s wide turning movement at Pea Ridge placed his army behind Samuel Curtis but also separated Confederate forces from their supply train. After two days of fighting the Confederates withdrew. Van Dorn later served in Mississippi and Tennessee and became a successful cavalry raider before his death in 1863.

In Captivating History’s The Battle of Pea Ridge, the Yankees lay camp along the northwestern border of Arkansas to prevent both the Confederate volunteer army and the Missouri State Guard from reinfiltrating Missouri. Southern General Earl Van Dorn was dispatched to concentrate Rebel forces in Arkansas into the Army of the West and retake the state before capturing Missouri.