Quotes are from Harry Williams' 1955 biography of Beauregard, which is excellent but, of course, reflects the attitudes of its own time. Beauregard is perhaps the most interesting figure among the Confederate generals, as well as being emblematic of why they lost the war.
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Maybe the most insane thing in Beauregard's career is that he was appointed to head West Point...at the end of 1860, when it should have been quite obvious that his loyalty would be questionable at best.
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He was an excellent soldier, as good a commander of a defensive position as anyone in the war, but also a wildly impractical schemer in drafting offensive plans, out of his depth commanding an army in motion, & one of the worst infighters in the Confederacy's dysfunctional team.
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Beaurgeard was the Zelig of the Confederate Army: Ft Sumter, First Bull Run, Shiloh, Fort Wagner, the Hunley, Petersburg, Sherman's March. He ordered the first shots of the war fired; he & Johnston sat with Jefferson Davis & told him it was over & time to give up.
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His path after the war was a middle ground between Longstreet & Mosby, who repented & tried to make amends, & people like Forrest who aimed to continue the war by other means & fought against black equal rights. Not an honorable path, but a practical one.
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Beauregard actually came fairly close after the war to taking a foreign military command. He had talks, & occasionally even offers, with Brazil, Egypt, Romania, France, & Argentina. The Brazilian job would have put him in the midst of the War of the Triple Alliance.
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In strictly military terms, Beauregard's defense of the siege of Charleston looks more impressive when you consider how few of the great sieges between Rome in 1849 & Paris in 1871 were defended successfully. Davis erred by not sending him to defend Vicksburg or Atlanta.
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With a few exceptions - Lucknow, Chattanooga, Shanghai - the roll call of great sieges in those years were mostly won by the besiegers: Rome, Sevastopol, Nanjing (x2), Vicksburg, Humaita, Petersburg, Anqing, Delhi, Hakodate, Queretaro, Paris (x2), etc.
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Emblematic of Beauregard's career is how he reacted to the deaths of Abraham Lincoln & Jefferson Davis:pic.twitter.com/eCO0LbH264
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