Following General Earl Van Dorn’s death, the New York Times wrote a piece/sketch about him that was worded as follows (an image of the actual NYT piece follows):
The Late Gen. Van Dorn. — The New York Express has the following sketch of the military career of the late Gen. Earl Van Dorn. It is known to our readers, that after the attack on Corinth, Gen. Van Dorn was placed in command of a large cavalry force:
Earl Van Dorn was born in Mississippi about forty years ago, graduated at West Point in 1842, and was breveted 2nd lieutenant U. S. Infantry; became 2nd lieutenant in 1844, and 1st lieutenant in 1847; was breveted captain for gallantry at Cerro Gordo, and major for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco; distinguished himself at Chapultepec, and was wounded entering the city of Mexico; was aide-de-camp to General Persifor Smith in 1848-9; and treasurer of the Military Asylum at Pascagoula, Miss., from January 1852, to June 1855; distinguished himself in the command of an expedition against the Comanches, in Texas, July 1, 1856, and in another, October 1858, on which occasion 56 Indians were killed, and Van Dorn was wounded four times, and in two places dangerously; and again he defeated another body of the Indians in May 1859.
On the breaking out of the present war, Van Dorn resigned his commission in the U. S. Army, January 31, 1861, became a Colonel in the Confederate service, at once took command of a body of Texas Volunteers, and was actively and efficiently engaged in getting possession of the vast amount of military stores and equipment which the U. S. Government had collected in Texas. On April 20th, 1861, he captured at Indianola the valuable steamship Star of the West. On April 24th, at the head of 800 men, at Saluria, he received the surrender of Major C. C. Sibley and seven companies of U.S. Infantry, and on May 9th, that of Lieut. Col. Reeve and six companies of the 8th Infantry. Promoted successively to a Brigadier Generalship and a Major Generalship, he took command of the trans-Mississippi District, January 29th, 1862, commanded at the battle of Pea Ridge, March 6th, 7th and 8th; was superseded by Gen. Holmes; had a command at the battle of Corinth; since which time his command has been taken by Gen. Pemberton.
The reputation of Van Dorn among those who knew him best has ever been that of a brave, courageous soldier, and intrepid even to rashness. Dash and enterprise were his characteristics, but he was considered to lack the qualities that go to the making of a safe and reliable leader.
When he arrived at New Orleans with the Star of the West, having on board a strong force of Texas volunteers, “eager for the fray,” Van Dorn conceived a characteristic adventure, which he is understood to have applied to the Confederate Government, then holding its seat at Montgomery, for permission to execute. He proposed to run up alongside of Fort Pickens, with the stars and stripes flying at his mast-head, and pretending that he had been sent by the United States Government with reinforcements, to obtain an entrance with his Texans into the fort, and then to take possession of it in the name and for the use of the Confederacy. But the proposition was not favorably received by the Confederate President, much to the disappointment and chagrin of Van Dorn, to whom such an adventure would have been but a labor of love.
