
Earl Van Doren a Confederate general. He was the son of Peter Aaron Van Dorn and Sofia Donelson Caffery. The father graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1795. The parents moved to Virginia and then to Mississippi. His mother was the niece of Mrs. Andrew Jackson. Young Van Dorn graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1842. He married Caroline Godbold of Mt. Vernon, Alabama. He served with distinction in the Mexican War, and the Civil War until defeated at Corinth, Mississippi, by General Rosecrans.
It was said that Earl Van Dorn was more handsome than the indifferent photograph he presented would indicate. He was described as "tall, erect, handsome, with light chestnut hair, bright flashing eyes, cameo-like features, and a graceful, well-proportioned form, and he had that winning charm and personal magnetism so potent in love and friendship." A memoir of his life was printed in 1902, entitled A Soldier's Honor.
Earl Van Dorn's family consisted of Judge P. A. Van Dorn, Mrs. Van Dorn, three sons and six daughters: Mary, Jane, Octavia, Earl, Aaron, Mahella, Sarah, Emily, and Jacob. When the youngest was about one year old, the mother died, leaving Octavia in charge of the household. Judge Van Dorn was descended from a Holland ancestry--Baron Van Dorn, Lord High Chancellor to the king, being a direct ancestor. The family came to America early in the seventeenth century and bought lands from the Indians in Monmouth and Somerset counties, New Jersey, which have been continuously in the possession of their descendants to the present time. The judge went to Princeton and at age twenty-one went to Mississippi. He settled at Port Gibson. He died in 1837, at age of sixty-four.
Mrs. Van Dorn was a granddaughter of Colonel John Donelson of General Washington's staff and niece of Mrs. Andrew Jackson. She was brunette while the judge was the Saxon blond type of his ancestors. The Donelson family went from Virginia to Tennessee and from there to Louisiana and Mississippi. Mrs. Van Dorn was a Miss Caffery and was an aunt of Senator Caffery of Louisiana. At fourteen years of age Octavia with her father visited New York and Washington, visiting President Jackson in Washington.
Major General, CSA Earl Van Dorn was born on 17. Sep. 1820 at near, Port Gibson, Claiborne County, Mississippi. He was the son of
Peter Aaron Van Dorn and
Sophia Donelson Caffery. Major General, CSA Earl Van Dorn was graduated on 1. Jul. 1842 at United States Military Academy, West Point, Orange County, New York; he was ranked 210 out of 217 cadets. He married
Carolina Godbold in 1843. Major General, CSA Earl Van Dorn had an affair with
Martha Goodbread which resulted in issue c 1856. Major General, CSA Earl Van Dorn died on 8. May. 1863 at Spring Hill, Tennessee, at age 42; Murdered by Dr. George B. Peters.