General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard was one of the main commanders of Confederate forces during the Civil War. It was he who started the wars by opening fire on the Fort. Sumter at Port Charleston in April 1861.
In July of the same year, after taking command of the Confederate Army of the Potomac, he won the first serious encounter of the war, at Manassas, Virginia. His army, supported by reinforcements from Johnston's army in the Shenandoah Valley, defeated the Union army led by General McDowell. Had his army been deployed instead, it would have been possible that the Civil War would have ended that same year, as the Richmond Road had opened.
This is his account of the battle, including the previous strategic situation. He then adds a very revealing assessment of his relationship with Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and why, in his opinion, the Confederacy lost the Civil War.
By : Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (1818 - 1893)
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