LCV Winter 2012 - (Page 88)

a ramBuncTious childhood 1834, Beauregard dropped the hyphen from his name. Even in childhood, Beauregard possessed a lofty sense of According to the legend, he did so because this advance egotism coupled with noblesse oblige. He was born on may in the alphabet placed him at the head of his class. Even 28, 1818, in St. Bernard Parish to Jacques Toutantso, Beauregard’s studiousness and drive for success Beauregard, the master of Contreras plantation, and Helene enabled him to graduate second among 45 cadets in West Judith de Reggio Toutant-Beauregard, who claimed descent Point’s class of 1838. His fellow cadets included many from Franco-Italian nobility. He was the third child in a future generals in the U.S. and Confederate armies, including Irwin mcDowell, whom Beauregard would family of seven but suffered no disability for being a middle child. Stories were told of his friendship with a ultimately defeat at the Battle of Bull Run (manassas), and slave his own age, Tombie, whose father hunted pheasant William Tecumseh Sherman, to whom he surrendered at and deer in the swamps and cypress forests surrounding war’s end. His favorite teacher, the artillery instructor Contreras for the Toutant-Beauregard table. on New Year’s Robert Anderson, surrendered Fort Sumter to Beauregard Day the master of Contreras distributed gifts to the slaves after a withering bombardment. and Beauregard watched as they danced, drummed and Long before the Civil War, when Beauregard was played string instruments fashioned from the jaws of commissioned as second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers after graduation from West Point, he began his animals in the clearing outside the modest but rambling, service by constructing coastal fortifications in Rhode one-story manor house. The business of Contreras was Island and Florida. ordered to Louisiana to conduct sugar cane, cut with machetes by slaves under the supervision of le commandeur. Beauregard’s imperious personality was already evident in these boyhood stories. In one account, he chased an adult cousin who teased him in public into an outhouse, threatening to thrash him with a stick unless he apologized. In another childhood tale, Beauregard ran from the altar of the Church of St. Louis in New orleans during his first communion, enticed by the drumbeat of a militia parade outside. Even then, the military profession fascinated him. Beauregard wanted to be a general. The French elite of Louisiana maintained a haughty distance from les americains well into the 19th century and continued to send their sons to France for their education. The fiirst shot of Civil War was fired at Fort Sumter from Charleston, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861. Beauregard’s father, a pragmatic man Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard ordered the bombardment and Union troops surrendered after a 34-hour siege. who accepted that Louisiana would never revert to France, sent his son soundings in Barataria Bay, he was stationed in his home instead to the French School in New York City. Beauregard state for five years. During that time he was briefly entered the school, where he finally became fluent in arrested for dueling with a fellow officer who had English, at age 11. The headmasters had been officers under insulted him; more happily, he married marie Laure Napoleon and filled him with stories of the emperor’s campaigns. The boy studied the battles of Austerlitz and Villere, a daughter of the Creole aristocracy. Jena and returned home from the French School The glory Beauregard desired could never be provided determined to become a cadet at the U.S. military Academy merely by erecting forts at the mouth of the mississippi, at West Point. however. He eagerly sought a role in the mexicanWhile the Toutant-Beauregard family protested that this American War (1846 - 1848) and joined Robert E. Lee and amounted to joining the enemy camp, Beauregard’s George B. mcClellan on the staff of the U.S. commander stubborn persistence finally moved his father, whose General Winfield Scott. Prickly over every perceived friendship with Louisiana’s governor, A.B. Roman, helped slight, Beauregard felt his contributions were not acknowledged. He proved a brave if vainglorious officer him gain admission. Upon arrival at West Point in march P.G.T. BeaureGard’s favoriTe Teacher aT WesT PoinT, The arTillery insTrucTor roBerT anderson, surrendered forT sumTer To his former sTudenT afTer a WiTherinG BomBardmenT. 88 LoUISIANA ENDoWmENT FoR THE HUmANITIES • Winter 2012-13 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LCV Winter 2012

LCV Winter 2012

https://www.nxtbook.com/leh/lcvwinter2012/lcvwinter2012
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com