Origins & Early Life

Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard (May 28, 1818 – February 20, 1893) was an American military officer known for being the Confederate general who started the American Civil War at the Battle of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Today, he is commonly referred to as P. G. T.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Beauregard, but he rarely used his first name as an adult. He signed correspondence as G. T. Beauregard. Trained in military and civil engineering at the United States Military Academy, West Point, Beauregard served with distinction as an engineer officer in the Mexican–American War.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Following a brief appointment as superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy in 1861, and after Louisiana seceded, he resigned from the United States Army and became the first brigadier general in the Confederate States Army. He commanded the defenses of Charleston, South Carolina, at the start of the Civil War at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Three months later he helped win the First Battle of Manassas near Bull Run Creek. Beauregard held several key commands in the Western Theater, including control of armies at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, and the Siege of Corinth in northern Mississippi, both in 1862. He returned to Charleston...

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