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A letter concerning General Van Dorn was sent to General Pemberton of the Confederacy from John S. Griffith, a colonel from Texas with a reputation for being a hard fighter and a passionate soldier for the cause. He and his men idolized General Van Dorn. The letter that Griffith wrote was also signed by his regimental commanders with signees being Lieutenant Colonel E.R. Hawkins, Major J.H. Brooks, Lieutenant Colonel J.S. Boggess, Lieutenant Colonel D.W. Jones, and Captain Jack Wharton.
Below is part of the content of that letter:
…the best employment in which the cavalry under your command, can be engaged…if you will fit up a cavalry expedition comprising three or four thousand men, and give us Major General Earl Van Dorn, than whom no braver man lives, we will penetrate the rear of the enemy, capture Holly Springs, Memphis and other points, and perhaps, force him…to retreat from Coffeeville; if not we can certainly force more of the enemy to remain in the rear, to protect their supplies, than the cavalry could whip if we remained at the front.