Van Dorn's raid was to exploit the victory over Grant's forces at the hands of General Mansfield Lovell at the Battle of Coffeeville, Mississippi, Dec. 6, 1862; the first reversal for Union forces in the West, and Van Dorn's Raid was the first clear victory by the Confederacy in the West that ended a Union Campaign (Grant's Campaign), Dec. 20, 1862.
Lovell, another enept Confederate general lost the City of New Orleans and performed terribly at the Battle of Corinth. But at Coffeeville, easily defeated Grant's forces.
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David Upton