Officer, Engineer · Confederate
P. G. T. Beauregard
1818 – 1893
The Confederate who took Fort Sumter, and the commander under whom Charleston withstood the siege and the long bombardment.
He is recorded here as buried in New Orleans on the authority of the book's caption. No cemetery is named and no burial record has been consulted, so no burial record is published for him.
Charleston
Beauregard was sent to Charleston as the first brigadier general in Confederate service and directed the guns ringing the harbor in April 1861. There is a symmetry to it that is not invented for effect: he had studied artillery at West Point under Robert Anderson and had been kept on briefly as Anderson's assistant instructor, so in April 1861 the student directed the batteries and the teacher commanded the fort in the middle of them.
He returned in September 1862 as commander of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and it was under him that the city withstood the siege and the long-range bombardment recorded throughout this collection. Two of his decisions run through Johnson's account of the defense: his repeated written protest against the stripping of his department by Richmond, and his endorsement of 26 August 1863 that Fort Sumter must be held to the last extremity.
Life
A Louisiana Creole, raised speaking French in St. Bernard Parish below New Orleans. Second in the West Point class of 1838, into the engineers; he served under Winfield Scott in Mexico, was wounded twice, and spent the following decade on coastal fortifications and river works along the Gulf. Appointed superintendent of West Point in January 1861, he held the post about five days — Louisiana seceded, his loyalties were doubted, and he was removed, the shortest tenure in the Academy's history.
He went on to Manassas, and to Shiloh, where he took command after Albert Sidney Johnston bled to death, and was sent north again in 1864 to hold the Petersburg lines until Lee arrived. Afterward he was a railroad president in Louisiana and, less respectably, drew a large salary as a supervisor of the Louisiana State Lottery.
Service
- Brigadier Generalcommissionedartillery · Confederate armyMarch 1861 to April 1861Fort SumterDavis & Melton 2020
- GeneralcommissionedDepartment of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, staff · Confederate armySeptember 1862 to April 1864Davis & Melton 2020 Johnson 1890
Each rank is the rank held at the time described. A later promotion is shown only in its own dated entry.
Places
Commanded from Fort Sumter
March 1861 to April 1861 · high confidence
Burial
Not yet documented.
Photographs
What is established, and on whose authority
- verifiedBorn 28 May 1818; died 20 February 1893.Davis & Melton 2020
- verifiedSecond in the West Point class of 1838, commissioned into the engineers.Davis & Melton 2020
- verifiedStudied artillery at West Point under Robert Anderson and served briefly as his assistant instructor.Davis & Melton 2020
- verifiedThe first brigadier general in Confederate service; directed the batteries at the bombardment of Fort Sumter in April 1861.Davis & Melton 2020
- verifiedCommanded the Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida from September 1862.Davis & Melton 2020 Johnson 1890
- verifiedEndorsed on 26 August 1863 that Fort Sumter must be held to the last extremity.Johnson 1890
- verifiedIs buried in New Orleans.Davis & Melton 2020
- not establishedThe cemetery in New Orleans, and the burial date.no source
- verifiedThe portrait plate catalogued here as “Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard” shows this person.National Archives
Identity: verified. Last checked 31 August 2026.
Corrections to this record are welcome through the publisher.