"Major General Earl Van Dorn was a soldier whose star shone brightly during the early days of the Confederacy. A veteran of the Mexican War and Indian campaigns, he is remembered for suffering devastating defeats while leading armies at Pea Ridge and Corinth and then redeeming himself as a cavalry commander at Holly Springs and Thompson Station. Yet he was perhaps best known for his reputation as a womanizer killed by an irate husband at the height of his career."--BOOK JACKET.

"Arthur B. Carter's biography of Van Dorn, the first in three decades, draws on previously unpublished sources regarding the general's affair with Martha Goodbread - which resulted in three children - and his liaison with Jessica Peters, which resulted in his death. This new material, unknown to previous biographers, includes the revelation that the true circumstances of Van Dorn's death were kept secret by friends and comrades in order to protect his family."--BOOK JACKET.

"The tarnished Cavalier is more than a story of scandal. Carter sheds new light on Confederate conduct of the war in the western theater during 1861 and 1862, revisits the pivotal battles of Pea Ridge and Corinth - both of which are important to understanding the loss of the upper South - and introduces new perspectives on the defense of Vicksburg and the Middle Tennessee operations of early 1863."--BOOK JACKET.