Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies: General P.G.T. Beauregards Account of Fort Sumter

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard was a Louisiana-born American military officer, politician, inventor, writer, civil servant, and the first prominent general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Today he is commonly referred to as P. G. T. Beauregard, but he rarely used his first name as an adult and signed correspondence as G. T. Beauregard. Beauregard was trained as a civil engineer at the United States Military Academy and served with distinction as an engineer in the Mexican-American War. Following a brief appointment at West Point in 1861, with the South's secession, he became the first Confederate brigadier general. He commanded the defenses of Charleston, South Carolina, and he became quickly famous throughout the South for commanding the successful attack on Fort Sumter from April 12-13, 1861, beginning the Civil War. Beauregard was also the victor at the First Battle of Bull Run, the wars first major battle. Beauregard would serve the Confederacy throughout the war, mostly in the Western theater at battles like Shiloh. His forces also saved Petersburg in June 1864 by defending against assaults by overwhelmingly superior Union Army until Lees army could arrive. As a general, Beauregard wrote dispatches and reports that were preserved in The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. This collection of Beauregards reports and dispatches describe the events leading up to the attack on Fort Sumter and the aftermath of the successful attack. This edition includes illustrations of Fort Sumter and pictures of Beauregard.