biographer John C. Fredriksen described him as "a brave and capable soldier, but he proved somewhat lacking in administrative ability." Fredriksen said that Van Dorn belonged in cavalry command, where he was "back in his element" and "demonstrated flashes of brilliance" with that branch of the service. Fredriksen believed Van Dorn's successes at Holly Springs and Thompson's Station in the spring of 1863 proved he was one of the leading cavalry leaders in the Confederacy. He said that his death cost the service a "useful leader at a critical juncture of the Vicksburg campaign", noting that Van Dorn was the senior major general in the Confederate States Army when he was killed. Physically short, impulsive, and highly emotional, Van Dorn was also a noted painter and writer of poetry. He was respected for his horsemanship and was known as a lover of women. A reporter at the time had dubbed him "the terror of ugly husbands" shortly before Van Dorn was killed. Honors CSS General Earl Van Dorn, a side-wheel river steamer in the Confederate States Navy, was named for him in early 1862. After destruction of most of the River Defense Fleet in Union battles, this steamer was burned in June 1862 to prevent its being captured by Union forces. In 1906, the Daughters of the Confederacy of Claiborne County erected a monument to Confederate soldiers in front of the county courthouse in Port Gibson. It is topped by a portrait statue of Van Dorn. 1942, the US Army established Camp Van Dorn, a training camp near Centreville, Mississippi, in Wilkinson and Amite counties for troops during World War II, naming it in his honor. It operated into 1946. See also List of American Civil War generals (Confederate) Van Dorn battle flag Notes References Print Cannan, John, ed., War in the West: Shiloh to Vicksburg, 1862–1863, W.H. Smith Publishers, 1990, . Dupuy, Trevor N., Johnson, Curt, and Bongard, David L., Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography, Castle Books, 1992, 1st Ed., . Eicher, David J. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. . Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. . Foote, Shelby. The Civil War: A Narrative. Vol. 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville. New York: Random House, 1958. . Foote, Shelby. The Civil War: A Narrative. Vol. 2, Fredericksburg to Meridian.