The killing and assasination of Confederate General Earl Van Dorn has become quite the conspiracy in modern times as more information is discovered.
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Most historians attest that Dr. George Peters killed General Earl Van Dorn May 7, 1863 because Peters believed that Van Dorn was having an affair with his wife, Jesse Peters.
With Dr. Peters being a state legislator of Tennessee, he was out of town a considerable amount of time which left Jesse, who was only in her 20s, lonely and vulnerable. When the famous and handsome General Van Dorn came to Spring Hill, Jesse couldn’t help herself. With Van Dorn’s well known skill of seduction, the two were a match made for each other.
History tells us that while in Spring Hill, Tennessee that General Van Dorn and Jesse took many unaccompanied carriage rides together in addition to attending parties, banquets, and social functions in each others company. To some observers, they flaunted the affair as though Van Dorn’s celebrity-hero status made them untouchable.
Some say it was the furious and embarassed General Ulysses S. Grant who wanted revenge for Van Dorn’s overwhelming attack on his army that led to surrender and retreat who sent spies to find a scorned husband who would be open to becoming a paid assasian for the Union.
The story goes that George didn’t believe that Jesse would cheat on him, but in the well-documented case of George walking in on the two of them in bed together, he send word to the Union that he would take them up on their offer – which granted him 3 million dollars worth of land in exchange for killing General Earl Van Dorn.
Dr. Peters demanded that General Van Dorn write a letter confessing the affair to share with the townspeople and with Confederate leaders. While at the end of Dr. Peter’s pistol, Van Dorn promised to write the confession letter, but, as Dr. Peters likely suspected, he never wrote it and refused when confronted again by Dr. Peters who was able to waltz right past Van Dorn’s guards since they were used to Jesse and George frequently coming to see the General with Dr. Peters delivering communication from the Tennessee government and with Jesse delivering something Van Dorn found significantly more exciting. Once easily entering Van Dorn’s headquarters, Dr. Peters become an asset for the Union, shooting an unsuspecting Van Dorn in the back of his head and killing him.
Some accounts suggest that General Nathan Bedford Forrest pursued the fleeing Dr. Peters but, rather than killing him, turned him over to a judge to avoid a murder charge, since George was a civilian. The judge, possibly paid off by the north as part of their plan to protect Peters, allowed him to go free and he went to Mississippi where the large land grant from the North awaited him. Dr. Peters killed General Earl Van Dorn, getting vengance for Van Dorn’s affair with his wife and also become a wealthy man. He divorced Jesse shortly after moving to Mississippi.
It was shortly following this event that General Ulysses S. Grant again attempted to invade Vicksburg, Mississippi. Without Van Dorn to defend it as he did against Grant’s invasion, the Union notched a key victory and the war turned south for the Confederates. Some historians wonder if a different fate would have existed had it not been for Dr. Peters killing General Van Dorn in Spring Hill, Tennessee on May 7, 1863.