Vulnerable in Victory

It was the fiery end of the best day of Earl Van Dorn's 20 years as a professional soldier. Bone-tired from the jarring of a week-long ambulance ride and still feverish from pneumonia, the Confederate commander lay down here in the side yard of Elkhorn Tavern amid the wreckage of the day's battle.<br><br>Because he now controlled his enemy's sole supply line, General Van Dorn assumed he had the battle of Elkhorn Tavern won. No one yet knew that the rebel wagons bearing food and ammunition for the next day's fight were hopelessly out of reach.<br><br>At midnight two young Texans brought word to Confederate headquarters that Generals McCulloch and McIntosh had been killed early in the Leetown fighting. They took orders back for their entire division to march through the night to rejoin Van Dorn here before sunup.