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Earl Van Dorn, a confederate army commander in the Western Theater of the #CivilWar, was shot and killed #OTD in 1863. He was serving as commander of the cavalry corps of the Army of Tennessee at the time, headquartered in the home of the Cheairs family in Spring Hill, TN.
A notorious womanizer, Van Dorn had been caught having an affair with young wife of Dr. George Peters, a Tennessee state legislator. On the morning of May 7, Peters arrived at Van Dorn’s headquarters, walked into his office, and shot him in the back of the head.
Van Dorn never regained consciousness, dying four hours later. Dr. Peters was never tried for the crime, the community feeling that Van Dorn had dishonored him and Peters was within his rights as a husband to retaliate. Van Dorn is buried in his family plot in Port Gibson, MS.
