MAJ.-GEN. EARL VAN DORN.

CHAPTER LVII.

His capture of Federal troops in Texas at the beginning of the war.-Temporary command in North Virginia.-Assigned to the Trans-Mississippi.-Battle of Elk Horn.-Correspondence with Gen. Curtis on civilized warfare.-Gen. Van Dorn crosses the Mississippi River.-The Department of Louisiana.-Heroism of the first defence of Vicksburg.-Battle of Corinth.-Gen. Van Dorn removed from command. His reflections on the sentence. His command of cavalry.-Destroys Grant's depot of supplies at Holly Springs.-Dies by the hand of private violence. His genius as a commander.

THE career of Earl Van Dorn in the war was not well sustained; but it was very brilliant in some of its parts; and it was terminated by a painful and well-remembered tragedy. He was a native of Port Gibson, Mississippi. He graduated at West Point in 1842, and entered the Seventh Infantry. He served in the Mexican War, was promoted first lieutenant, March 3, 1847, and was brevetted captain, April 18, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Cerro-Gordo. He obtained another brevet, that of major, at Contreras and Churubusco, and was wounded in entering the city of Mexico.

The State of Texas seceded from the Union on the 1st February, 1861, and volunteer forces were at once started to capture the Federal garrisons and munitions of war within her limits. Van Dorn, holding from the State a Commission as Colonel, organized an expedition, consisting of not more than eighty men, which by a brave enterprise. on the 20th April, 1861, captured the Federal steamer, Star of the West, in the harbour of Galveston, with the troops on board of her. Under cover of night he put off in the lighter which had been used in transporting the

Federal soldiers; and, approaching the side of the steamer, whose commander thought he was about to take on his own men, the band of daring Texans, swift as lightning, were over the bulwarks, and in instant possession of the vessel. Not satisfied with this exploit, Col. Van Dorn, collecting a larger number of volunteers, proceeded by water to Saluria, and on the 24th April, anchored within sight of the schooners having on board United States troops to the number of 400 or 500, under command of Major Sibley. A summons to surrender was obeyed; and the officers were released on parole and the men on their oaths not to take up arms against the Southern Confederacy.

These early exploits in Texas obtained considerable fame for Van Dorn, and, when he offered his services at Richmond, he was commissioned a Major-General. He had a temporary command in Gen. Beauregard's army after the battle of Manassas; but when that army was re-organized, Van Dorn was sent West, and assumed command of the Trans-Mississippi department, which comprised the larger part of the States of Missouri and Arkansas, the State of Louisiana as far south as Red River, and the Indian territory west of Arkansas. In this department he coöperated with Gen. Price, and in conjunction with his forces fought the brilliant but fruitless battle of Elk Horn.

Before this battle, Gen. Van Dorn had meditated an expedition by which he hoped to capture St. Louis. But while at Pocahontas, Arkansas, he received a despatch from Gen. Price, informing him that the enemy had forced McCulloch and himself out of Missouri, down into Boston Mountains, where the two Confederate forces lay on opposite sides of the mountain without coöperation, and without the recognition of a common head. This was the occasion of Gen. Van Dorn assuming command, which he did, riding across Arkansas to Boston Mountains, accompanied only by his chief of staff and a single aide; and, on reaching there, he immediately reorganized the army into a division of cavalry, under McIntosh, and two corps of infantry and artillery under Price and McCulloch. In the battle which ensued, there is good reason to suppose that if the subordinate commanders and the troops had been in a better condition of discipline, a complete surprise of the force of Gen. Curtis would have been effected, and the Federal army beaten in detail.

The following correspondence between the commanders of the two armies consequent on the battle of Elk Horn, is interesting as a commentary on the text of "rebel barbarities; " and the reader will notice the honourable and chivalrous terms of Gen. Van Dorn's reply on the subject, characteristic of himself and faithful in its representation of the true spirit of the South:

HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DISTRICT, March 9, 1862. To the Commanding Officer of the United States Forces on Sugar Creek, Arkansas:

SIR:-In accordance with the usages of war, I have the honour to request that you will permit the burial party whom I send from this army, with a flag of truce, to attend to the duty of collecting and interring the bodies of the officers and men who fell during the engagement of the 7th and 8th inst.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

EARL VAN DORN,

Major-General Commanding Army.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE SOUTH-WEST,

PEA RIDGE, March 9, 1862.

Earl Van Dorn, Commanding Confederate Forces:

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SIR :-The General commanding is in receipt of yours of the 9th, saying that, in accordance with the usages of war, you send a party to collect and bury the dead. I am directed to say all possible facilities will be given for burying the dead, many of which have already been interred. Quite a number of your surgeons have fallen into our hands, and are permitted to act under parole; and, under a General Order from Maj.-Gen. Halleck, further liberty will be allowed them, if such accommodations be reciprocated by you. The General regrets that we find on the battle-field, contrary to civilized warfare, many of the Federal dead who were tomahawked, scalped, and their bodies shamefully mangled, and expresses a hope that this important struggle may not degenerate to a savage warfare. By order of

S. R. CURTIS,

T. J. MCKINNEY, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

Brigadier-General.

The following communication was received from Van Dorn, in response to the above:

HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DISTRICT,

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VAN BUREN, ARK., March 14, 1862. GENERAL:-I am instructed by Maj.-Gen. Van Dorn, commanding this district, to express to you his thanks and gratification on account of the courtesy extended by yourself and the officers under your command, to the burial party sent by him to your camp on the 9th inst.

He is pained to hear from your letter, brought to him by the commanding officer of the party, that the remains of some of your soldiers have been reported to you to have been scalped, tomahawked, and otherwise mutilated.

He hopes you have been misinformed in regard to this matterthe Indians who formed part of his forces having for many years been regarded as civilized people. He will, however, most cordially unite with you in repressing the horrours of this unnatural war; and that you may cooperate with him to this end more effectually, he desires me to inform you that many of our men, who surrendered themselves prisoners of war, were reported to him as having been murdered in cold blood by their captors, who were alleged to be Germans. The General commanding feels sure that you will do your part, as he will, in preventing such atrocities in future, and that the perpetrators of them will be brought to justice, whether German or Choctaw.

The privileges which you extend to our medical officers will be reciprocated, and as soon as possible means will be taken for an exchange of prisoners.

I am, sir, very respectfully yours,

D. H. MAURY, A.A.G.

From the battle-field of Elk Horn, Gen. Van Dorn retired to Van Buren, where he refitted his army. Perceiving that the enemy could accomplish nothing more in Arkansas at that time, and appreciating the importance of concentrating the Confederate armies, he proposed to add his force to the command of Gen. A. S. Johnston, on the other side of the Mississippi River. He made the offer to Gen. Johnston, and almost simultaneously received from that commander a general order to undertake the movement, if practicable. When it is remembered that at this time Van Dorn

had the position of a sort of viceroy, commanding the vast region of the Trans-Mississippi, with all its resources for war yet undeveloped, the action by which he sought, from conviction of the true interests of the country, to surrender a position so important and great, and become corps or division commander in another army, furnished a rare instance of self-abnegation, and shows an honesty of purpose much to be commended. He applied himself with all diligence to effect the meditated junction with Johnston, and was anxious to do so before a decisive battle was fought. His troops were moved from Van Buren to Memphis with great dispatch; but the 2d Texas regiment was the only portion of his army that reached Corinth in time to participate in the battle of Shiloh. Shortly thereafter Gen. Van Dorn joined Beauregard, adding 15,000 effectives to his army.

In June, 1862, Gen. Van Dorn was appointed in the place of Lovell, to command the "Department of Louisiana;" and on assuming command, he published an order advising "all persons living within eight miles of the Mississippi River to remove their families and servants into the interiour, as it was the intention to defend the Department to the last extremity." The most brilliant service of his military life, rendered in this department, was the first successful defence of Vicksburg, which obtained for it the title of "the heroic city." The fortifications around Vicksburg had not been commenced until five days after the fall of New Orleans. The enemy commenced his bombardment in the last days of May, 1861, and continued it at intervals for two months, at one time concentrating the fire of more than forty vessels of war and mortarboats. The following passionate address of Gen Van Dorn to his troops shows the spirit that animated the defence:

HEADQUARTERS VICKSBURG, June 28, 1862. DEFENDERS OF VICKSBURG:-The enemy are attempting to destroy this beautiful city, and a heroic people have determined to sacrifice it rather than give it up to the invaders of their homes.

It may be considered, therefore, in ruins, for it may be battered down and burnt up, but the earth it stands upon is ours, and will never be given up. The shot and shell now playing through these streets, through lovely villas, and sacred churches, and deserted homes, are but "sound and fury, signifying nothing."