Beauregard, P. G. T. (Pierre Gustave Toutant), 1818-1893

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard was a U.S. Army officer, superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, and a Confederate general. Born on a sugar plantation in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, on May 28, 1818, Beauregard was from a wealthy, slave owning Louisiana Creole family and grew up speaking French. He did not begin to learn English until attending a school in New York City at the age of twelve. Beauregard attended West Point and was an exceptional student, showing great aptitude in artillery and engineering. He graduated second in his class in 1838.

Beauregard served with distinction as a military engineer during the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1848. He was brevetted (honorarily promoted) to captain for his performance at the battles of Contreras and Churubusco, and brevetted again to major for his actions at Chapultepec, where he was wounded in the shoulder and thigh. Following the Mexican-American War, Beauregard oversaw military engineering projects along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast. However, by 1856 he grew tired of peacetime service and nearly traveled to Nicaragua to take part in a revolution there being carried out by American volunteers. He was talked out of the effort by his Army colleagues, including general-in-chief Winfield Scott (who had personally seen Beauregard’s performances in Mexico). In January 1861, he secured an appointment as superintendent of West Point. However, he held the position for only five days before Louisiana’s secession prompted U.S. Army officials to revoke the orders.

Beauregard returned to New Orleans in early 1861 and joined the Confederate cause. Because of his previous service and reputation, he was quickly promoted, becoming the first Confederate general on March 1, 1861. His first assignment was command over defenses in Charleston, South Carolina. Federal soldiers there under Major Robert A. Anderson—one of Beauregard’s West Point instructors—occupied Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor and refused to relinquish the post without a fight. On April 12, 1861, Beauregard ordered Confederate cannons in Charleston to fire on Fort Sumter, and after a thirty-four hour bombardment Anderson surrendered. The attack upon U.S. Army troops sparked the Civil War, as it spurred President Abraham Lincoln to call for 75,000 volunteers to defeat southern secessionists and led to several other southern states to join the Confederacy.

After his victory at Fort Sumter, Beauregard received command of Confederate forces defending northern Virginia and successfully defeated a Union army under Brigadier General Irvin McDowell at the First Battle of Bull Run, near Manassas, Virginia, in July 1861. Despite these victories, Beauregard ran into controversy. He had a brash personality, and publicly criticized people like Confederate president Jefferson Davis; additionally, he bickered with some Confederate officials over strategy, his critics complaining his plans were overly complicated.

In early 1862, Beauregard was transferred to the western theater where he became second-in-command of the Army of Mississippi under General Albert Sidney Johnston. The Confederates attacked Ulysses S. Grant’s army at Pittsburgh Landing along the Tennessee River in early April 1862. More famously known as the Battle of Shiloh, Beauregard took command of the Confederate forces after Johnston was mortally wounded. Despite initial success, Beauregard halted his men due to darkness only to withdraw the following day when Grant’s men were reinforced and counterattacked. Receiving criticism for retreating at Shiloh, Beauregard infuriated Confederate officials more when he abandoned the key railroad hub at Corinth, Mississippi, shortly afterwards. Although his withdrawal had been made to avoid being surrounded by a larger Union force, and because his army was suffering greatly from disease and contaminated water at Corinth, the dual retreats hurt Beauregard’s reputation. When he temporarily left his post for medical treatment, Jefferson Davis relieved him of command.

Beauregard’s next assignment was a return to Charleston to once against take over defenses of the southeastern Confederate coastline. He performed well, frustrating several Union assaults against Charleston Harbor. However, Beauregard believed his position was beneath his abilities. He interjected himself into political matters, proposing negotiations with federal officials and working behind the scenes to increase the number of Confederate troops in the west at the expense of General Robert E. Lee’s army in Virginia.

In early 1864, Beauregard received orders to command Confederate defenses of North Carolina and southern Virginia. He performed very well in this role when Union armies under Ulysses S. Grant and Benjamin Butler maneuvered toward Richmond. Beauregard blocked Butler’s force and protected the key railroad center at Petersburg that summer. Meanwhile, William Tecumseh Sherman’s Union army captured Atlanta, Georgia, prompting Confederate high command to shift command in the west. Beauregard was asked to command the new Department of the West, which covered a region from Georgia to the Mississippi River. While the position was not a field command, Beauregard took the opportunity as it placed him above several Confederate armies. The assignment proved difficult, as his troops in Tennessee suffered devastating defeats at Franklin and Nashville and scattered southern forces in Georgia and South Carolina failed to stop Sherman’s army from cutting through Georgia and South Carolina. When Beauregard repeatedly messaged Confederate officials in Richmond for help against Sherman, they relieved him of command and replaced him with Joseph E. Johnston. Unsurprisingly, Johnston fared no better and Confederate forces in the Carolinas were forced to surrender in April 1865.

After the Civil War, Beauregard returned to New Orleans. He opposed Radical Reconstruction measures in the south, but less due to matters over Black civil rights and more regarding heavy property tax. Beauregard joined the Reform Party, generally made up of New Orleans businessmen who supported Black suffrage, and appealed to African American voters as an alternative to the Republican Party. He also took part in various business ventures, including railroads and cable car companies, civil engineering projects, and he served as the supervisor of the Louisiana State Lottery Company. He enjoyed substantial financial success from these activities.

Beauregard was married twice during his lifetime. He married Marie Antoinette Laure Villere in 1841. The couple had three children, but Marie died during childbirth to the third in 1850. Beauregard then married Caroline Deslonde in 1860. She died only four years later after a long illness.

Beauregard died on February 20, 1893. He is buried in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Wikipedia; National Park Service; American Battlefield Trust; FindaGrave)