Show A L Os t M id 1 look r af alv cx N e A 4 CX 14 W s 9 4 ag aa a M in charlesto Chhrles to 4 affie great creole 4 PAU all from beauregard the great creole courteny cour temy charlea scribners sons V ix i by ELMO SCOTT WATSON E ORDERED the firing on fort sum ter and thus furnished the spark which set off the mighty alon of the greatest civil war in his h tory but this kindliest kind liest military engagement in history cond acted with the utmost good nature almost p tenderness on both sides a pleasant curtain raiser which gave no hint of the grimness to follow wa 9 hailed as a great victory and he became the idol of a new Z nation the confederate states of america A the C on federate congress cop gress in behalf of the K new nat lon him a resolution of thanks the gene xiii assembly of south carolina the s scene of his great victory did the same MI bens of his native new orleans raised funds laure villere Z to buy a golden sword for him his admirers in montgomery ala the confederate capital davis and beauregard early in the war more decided to buy him a new horse and present it than one historian has pointed out how davis baure gard after shiloh received ivea to him upon his next visit there he rece suffered from the delusion that lie was h great manuscripts of five poems written to him then he was ordered to richmond to bonfer confer with president jefferson davis and ills his pi progress ogress north was a triumphal procession with cheering crowds and blaring bands at every railroad junction wherever he appeared the crowds demanded a speech arriving in Rl richmond climon I 1 he was bustled and shoved and kissed and had to stand with a scarlet arlet c b embarrassed mb face while a spindly malden maiden of forty to whom forty made no difference snipped a button from froc ahls his coat three months later two wo uniformed mobs i fought a battle near manasas sms or bull run in virginia the uniformed mob which had marched south many of them carrying len lengths gAlis of rope to lead a rebel prisoner lack back to washington went back toward that city in a panic stricken rout almost unparalleled in history the uniformed mob which had marched north each man confident of his ability to whip five yankees before breakfast experienced unexpected difficulties in whipping two but theirs was the victory anyway and after that another extravaganza of hero heio worship in the south louth they began naming children after him there was talk of making him president of the confederates states of america he had to keep an extra supply of coat buttons in his tent they snipped them off so fast As you have probably already guessed the object of all this frenzy was pierre gustave toutant bahu beauregard regard a gene generalis general ralIn in the confederate at airy army but you say if he was such a great hero then why do we hear so little of him now to find the answer to that question turn to a ne new w biography which has just been published by charles scribners sons it if Is beauregard the great creole written by hamilton basso who hiis has set pet about the task from obscurity the man once hailed as one of the greatest military figures in history li bory in the prologue to tits his biography Mr Basso i says occasionally in the textbooks we came canaii across misname his name put but it Is only rarey rafey and then with a scant une ine pr or wo they are done with him lie ile has fallen into obscurity even in the south where once he was loveil loved and hon lionor oredas cd as touch enuch as is lee and so in writing of him it has interested Interest cil mo me to seek an explanation of his neglect and effacement the fault I 1 believe and the ahe bl blame claffie affie if there Is any blame Is that of the traditionalists and abd the myth makers all the happy Gala hads linds of the picturesque mr basso then points put out that in when theM the civil vil war ended a ruined n defeated people returned to the ddlly dally routine foutine of oe peacetime peace time tit a changed life ilfe in which they had bind no pr present s anapo and so far ar as they could see ho no future all that was left inviolate waa wa the past and the pro prostrate south clung desperately to its mem orles of the beauty the chivalry and the foi romance nance that had been in the past iq in th years eyears that followed myths and legen legends dj began bean va 0 o spring up to farm orm the of the southern tradition and a part of df that th at tradition was that of the civil war general t 1111 here er fortunately ue te myth makers were not called upon to 16 exercise their creative ingenuity to any great extent thew their hero was alik already d made ills name was robert edward lee lee then became the legendary hero he was t the he model the others must measure up to A few southern generals notably stonewall jackson albert sidney John johnston sion and jeb stuart bore many points of resemblance to 19 lee the tradition therefore could incorporate tn corporate cheni them 1 into its dogma but beauregard could not be sa so included for one thing lie he and lee were v ere totally unlike in every respect then too beauregard was a frenchman and the trad tradition tion Is essentially an glo saxon add to this the antagonism that sprang up between president jefferson military strategist and he would brook no ter ference with his strategy of waging it a defensive war and trying to defend everi every part of the far hung flung empire of the south in contrast to this attitude was Beau regards desire dastre for a concentration of the confederate forces for cesIn in the vitally important places and the waging of a smashing I 1 offensive war which would decide the issue as quickly as possible one of the roost most interesting its of the civil w war ar Is W atiat might have happened if this creole creble jearld reared in the ine napoleonic tradition had been 1 divent a free hand from the outset there Is no doubt that he had in him the ina makings kinis of bt a gr great eat soldier but he seems always to have adv e ju just 1 st missed success whether because of his own shortcomings or because of circumstances over I 1 which he had no control it Is difficult to io say beauregard was bernona bom bor nona on a plantation in louisiana just years ago may 28 1818 when that state was still more french than american from the first he had a passion for guns uns for horses for abr everything military so when he was sent to school in new york conducted by the brothers two ex captains of napoleon po eon and listened to theirl thear ta tales lesof of the great campaigns in which they had fought under the little corporal this passion was only intensified the natural result was an appointment to the united states military academy at west point in 1834 one of his instructors Instruct ois there was a Kentuck laH lail aalmo robert anderson derson A little over a quarter of a century later the former student waso orber his gold soldiers lers to open fire on the fort defended by the former instructor but he was not hot present when the he fort hassur rendered it would be nn an thin thing he declared ato to represent be present dt at the humiliation f of his friend 1 in 1838 beauregard was graduated graduate dr from west point seco second idinia idi in iia a class of 45 one of his classmates was named irvin 1 and 23 years mcdowell and pierre gustave toutant beauregard were to be commanders of the opposing forces when bul bun creek in virginia received its bloody baptism after graduation I 1 PeAu a lieutenant ib the engineers corps first farsi helped in the construe t tion of rort fort adams ld ri rhode rhod e 1 I blahd Isa fid ther ike e was sent boake charge of afan an engineering project a at t barataria Bar barat ataria arla bay so he ca came ap ba back to tb lits his own creole country there he mi met and fell lir in ir love with the lo lovely iely laure and when hen they were married the most mast families in louisiana were ate united s 1 thep came the mexican war and daring that conflict he was twice brevet ted for gallant and meritorious service first as a captain 4 for iii ahls gallantry y at contreras and churus uga find and again as a major maggr for bravery in battle of 4 0 he returned d to io vew new OrL orleans elins as aaa 41 local herb berb and was presented a golden sword but the years which followed eida dull dall and uneventful ones and Beaurgard was rapidly slipping into obscurity then by pulling certain wires lie succeeded lu in getting himself appointed as comman commandant daht it at west point this was two days election in 1800 and when it seemed certain that I 1 louisiana would secede fro from n the union on his way to new tork beauregard Beau ikard stopped off in washington kion to explain to als his sip superior e officers that should louisiana withdraw from the union ile he must tusi follow his stat slate e the result was wa cashat shat that u he was superintendent eident it at west point for on only ay iy five days when he was ordered bp awk 9 k to louisiana thus establishing a record to for briefness in the time which any officer held that post 11 L louisiana seceded and beauregard the engl engineer who had prepared and presented a corn com program for the defense of ali he mississippi sis sippi alver passage to montgomery for a special meeting with provisional president jefferson dails dals he kissed his wife goodby good by i 1 1 and said heft he would uld be gone a fortnight he was gone four years tears 11 during those four years he rose to the height of his military ambition and sank t to the depths within a short time after manassas he was definitely an in bad with davis and the secretary of war benjamin ile he was sent to the department of the west as second I 1 in n command to albert sidney johnston at the battle of or pittsburg landing a bullet struck down johnston and the command d devolved e vol vea upon I 1 beauregard but with certain victory in sight when lie he could have annihilated grants army arms he ordered the die fighting stopped he retreated t to 0 corinth leaving gant in po possession ases S lon after the whisperings beauregard began there began to be doubts as to the greatness of the hero of sumter and the victor of blanas manassas sas but he did s score core a victory of sorts in fils his of corinth when halleck might have crushed hirm him despite this fact he was relieved of his comman command commandant dand and succeeded by gen braxton bragg one of bals dals pets the illness which had bad troubled him since the baegl beginning lining of the war made a long leave of absence necessary and after he hail had somewhat regained his health he was placed in command at charleston again there he successfully resisted a federal attack ali aimed ed althis at ahls breeding place of secession in helas serving uli under 0 rlee lee in resisting the sledge hammer strokes of grant around richmond at at petersburg he beat off an attack which saved iii richmond for nine more months A year later after lee le had bad surrendered there wasa was a bravi dramatic alc tlc meeting be tween davis and beauregard davis was was pleading ln gIor for a continuance of tb the war I 1 but beauregard and aen cen jo joseph seph johnston told him plainly that it was no use to struggle longer against the inevitable so go johi johnston surrendered to Sher sherman mari and the war was ovey over with only in his pocket beauregard started back to louisiana in new orleans he found himself still a hero to his people ie but in the gears yea i rs that fofi followed owed the A hero ero tveit even in dna faded there was the roaster matter of the Louls louisiana lara lottery the gambling bling sch scheme ene which wai was so bitterly assail edaa 9 a menan to abe morals aird an d character of trie nation lis directors needed the association bt bf some man whose greatness of name would lend character and dignity to the I 1 lottery and iid certify to th the e fat fairness ra of the drawings t finally they t got such names two ot eathem oA them onedas gep gen jubal AE bearly 4 aly and the other vt vaa gen bleir alerre e gusta gusfave e toutant beauregard beauga r d the south was kihs astonished a little shocked shacked 1 i i handmade arid and made 6 apologies for her distinguished sons A but though it apologized for him hind and f tried to forget als with the octopus pils lt never 1 really forgave him it was not the thing for a civil bargl ajr general ioda to dd 41 i 4 came the the civil war I 1 as becoming a dim memory ilk most of jahe the great figurea in it were dead only a few it lingered n gerd ad on amo ng them the Great Greatt Creole in his ii s seventy fifth year the old olo illness assailed him he felt as 03 if knives were sticking in lils his throat lie he could feel the pulse ulsa of fever ferer behind his eyes sometimes in the officers would come to his quarters t to cheer him 1 1 up the fir fire 6 leaped and 1 r roared kaied athos and dt those hos w Ked w whisky fisl 1 I had ai a nip or t two and aind stuart sang in Q ills his great booming voice bolce k perhaps as he we went s t up the stairs the echo of stuarts song went cerii softly In tobis darkened room perhaps the dackias dar dark kias mas poignant with the ghosts of men IQ weathered gray a y i and perhaps lo 10 as he fell asleep there was the V past ast again and tw the days of f golden glory when his bis name was a banner in the southern surd sun or perhaps there was nothing only ault and d the ceasing eis ang heart and the peaceful ce fill coming I 1 of the end W 0 by W western stern newspaper union 1 I |