In the American Civil War, he served as a Confederate general, appointed commander of the Trans-Mississippi District. At the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, in early March 1862, he was defeated by a smaller Union force, partly because he had abandoned his supply-wagons for the sake of speed, leaving his men under-equipped in cold weather. At the Second Battle of Corinth in October 1862, he was again defeated through a failure of reconnaissance and removed from high command. He then scored two notable successes as a cavalry commander, capturing a large Union supply depot in the Holly Springs Raid and an enemy brigade at the Battle of Thompson's Station, Tennessee. Van Dorn's successful raid of Holly Springs delayed the potential expulsion of Jewish people from Grant's military district.