At midnight two young Texans brought word to Confederate
headquarters that Generals McCullouch 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.
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 of Elkhorn Tavern amid the wreckage of the day's battle.
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 days fight were hopelessly out of reach.
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