The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-08-04

1900 showed what great SerFlCe CoCIu 10
rendered the Confederacy by mountedmen
led by dashing commanders. Var Dorm
had all OF Forests personal courage anu
restless energy, and he had at the outset
what Forrest won only by slow and painful
effort-the confidence and approval OF his
superiors, and at the moment or MS tragic
death was at the head OF a corps OF cavalry
In a field offering every advantage for bril-
liant results. Forrest was at the time a
brigade commander under Van Dorm, and
the death of the leader broke up the corps.
Van Dorm entered the fight in 1861 with
the prestige of a trained West Point sol
der who had seen hard service, and, more
over, he was a cavalryman with a record.
He had served 10 the border troubles IN
Mexico, and against the wild Apaches and
Conanches, and his name was a familiar
one in many a home in the southwest,
where the veterans of those wars
the deeds of their comrades into the recep-
tive ears of the boys growing up to be war
riorS, too, when the time came. In the
news from Cerro Gordo Van Dorm had
been gaZetted a hero; so, too, at Churu-
busco, Chapultepec, and the gates OF Mex
leo he had come off with scars and breyets.
When the Southern army was regularly
organized Van Doru's promotion was
rapid, for he was under the eyes of men
who knew his record, and, in fact, had
served with him while he was making 1t.
He entered the Confederate service as col
ouel of cavalry in March, 1861, and before
the year closed was a major general com
handing the tr2nsmisslssippl depart
ment. This last assignment was given
him while ne was in Virginia. He has
tened to the field of action, which was
along the Missouri and Arkansas border,
with his plans all laid for a campaign. He
would attack St. Louis, break up the
Union headquarters there, cross to illinois
and erect powerful batteries, and so con
troll the upper Mississippi channel and hold
Missouri to the Confederacy.
The people of the west who sided with
the Confederacy took hope, for they looked
upon the dashing and graceful, though
small statured Van Dorm, as a young Ma
poleon and a savior. Gen. Sterling Price
was at the mead of an army of M%issourians,
organized for state defense against the
| Federal government, and lay at Springfield,
in the southwestern part of the state. Van
Dorm at once ordered all the Confederate
forces in the southwest to report to Price
and to his own headquarters at Pocahontas,
Just across the border in Arkansas. Before
the concentration of forces could be effected
Price was driven out of Springfield and
across the border by u strong Union force
under Gen. S. r. Curtis. Van Dorm then
turned his attention to Curtis and pushed
all the scattering detachments forward to
Prices camp. Curtis had followed Price
into Arkansas and held a strong position
in the mountains. On the 4th of March,
1862, Van Dorm moved against Curtis with
10000 men, divided into two columns. A
force of 10000 men, led by Gems. Ben Nc
Culloch and James Mcintosh, was ordered
to begin a direct attack, while Van DOru
and Price would make n detour and strike
the Union army on the flank. This turn
ing column was pushed out on the night OF
the 9th with secrecy and boldness worthy
of a "~Stonewall" Jackson.
The battle was joined on all sides on the
afternoon of the dh of March on the field
known as Pea Ridge. The column under
Van Dorm and Price carried everything be-
fore it, out nightfall put Il stop to the
movement, just when victory was within
grasp. McCulloch aud Mcintosh had not
done so we'll however. Both of these lead
ers had fallen, aud Gen. Hebert, who took
chief command when they fell, was a
prisoner. On the morning of the Sth Van
Dorm found that Curtis had taken up a
new position, and that the main column of
his own army was badly broken up by its
experiences of the previous day. lie re-
newed the battle without success.