Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Beauregard, Pierre Gustave Toutant
BEAUREGARD, Pierre Gustave Toutant, was born at New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1818. He graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1838, and was at first assigned to the artillery, whence he was subsequently transferred to the corps of engineers. He served in the Mexican war, and was twice wounded. He was promoted to a captaincy of engineers in 1853, and was on duty, superintending the erection of Government buildings in New Orleans, and fortifications on the Gulf coast till Jan. 1861, when he was for five days (Jan. 23–28) Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He resigned Feb. 20, 1861, joined the Confederates, and commenced the civil war by the bombardment of Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861. He was in actual command of the Southern troops at Bull Run, July 21, 1861, in which the Federals experienced a reverse; for this service he was made a brigadier-general. He was second in command, under General Sydney A. Johnston, at the battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee, April 6, 1862; and in the summer and autumn of 1863 successfully defended Charleston and its outworks when besieged by General Gillmore. He was subsequently connected with the army of Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina up to the time of that general's surrender, April 26, 1865, which brought the war to a close. At the close of the war he had attained the rank of full general, the highest grade in the service. Since the termination of the war, General Beauregard has resided in the Southern States; became president of the New Orleans, Jackson, and Mississippi Railroad; and for a number of years has been one of the managers of the Louisiana State Lottery.