Tag Archives: People

Civil War

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (P.G.T)

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (P.G.T)

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (P.G.T)

The Little Creole, The Little Napoleon, Bory, Felix, The Hero of Fort Sumter, P.G.T., and too himself just G.T. The man had many names and many different roles during his lifetime. He graduated from the US Military Academy as an Engineer and served in the Mexican War.

In 1861 he was the Superintendent of the Academy when South Carolina seceded. He resigned his post and the US Army and became the first brigadier general in the Confederate Army. There he led the defense of Charleston and was victorious against the Union forces at Ft. Sumter. A couple of months later he led the CSA in battle at Bull Run in Virginia. Defeating the Union Army again.

Soon after he was sent to the Western theater and led armies at Shiloh and the Siege of Corinth in Tennessee. In 1863 he went back Charleston and defended the city from a number of attacks by Union forces. In perhaps his greatest achievement he managed to keep Petersburg from falling into Union hands. This prevented the Union Army from attacking Richmond directly.

So one of the most successful Confederate generals, maybe one of the best on either side. Why do we not know his name like we do Jackson, Lee, Longstreet and the others? Most likely it was because he was not that great at the political aspects of generalship. He did not play well with others. Including the president and the rest of the high command.

Life After War

After the war, he was offered positions in the armies of Brazil, Romania, and Egypt. All of which he declined instead focusing his energy on freeing the South from the Union occupation forces. He spoke out for civil rights and the ability to vote for recently freed slaves. Later he ran a railroad and even invented cable cars. He was also a proliferate author relying on his experiences in the war.

In 1889 when Jefferson Davis passed, Beauregard was asked to head the funeral procession for his former president. He turned it down saying, “We have always been enemies. I cannot pretend I am sorry he is gone. I am no hypocrite.”

 

American Revolution

Those Who Remained Loyal

The American Revolution was much more of a civil war than a revolution. Though the patriot struggle focused on the problems with Parliament and the King, it brought them also to odds against their neighbors and family members. When most people think about the war they imagine a sharp dressed British army invading the colonies and spreading havoc. Those that may know a little more can also picture the German troops that fought on behalf of the British. Most people however don’t think about how many “Americans” fought against the revolution.

John Adams, later in life,  said (paraphrasing) that about a third of the country supported the patriot cause and about a third remained loyal to Britain. Approximately 19,000 men answered advertisements like the one shown above and actually fought as a part of the British Army during the war. That does not take into account loyalists militias, partisans, or those that swapped sides at some point. As far as civilians that remained loyal the number was between 200,000 and 500,000 thousand out of a population of about 3 million. A fairly wide gap, but accounts differ.

There were many reasons that men joined the British Army instead of the American cause. Many remained loyal to the king, they saw themselves as Englishmen and those that called themselves patriots were just thugs looking to enrich themselves. Some were men that became disillusioned with the cause and thought they would be on the winning side if they switched. There were some that were captured and given the choice to join the British Army, or face an almost certain death on the prison ships in New York Harbor. Some looked to settle old scores with neighbors that came down on the other side of the conflict. Their stories are wide and varied and just like their patriot counterparts they had their reasons.

Unfortunately the civil war aspect of the revolution lead to some of the most brutal and viscous fighting, especially in the South. Nothing that the Red Coats or Hessians or heck even he Native Americans, could do that would match any of the brutality of the backwoods of the Carolinas.

After the war the Loyalists found themselves out in the cold. Many of them no longer had homes as their property had been confiscated and for the most part they were just not wanted. Almost 100,000 of them left the country and resettled Newfoundland, Canada, or simply went back to England. Those who stayed faced discrimination and sometimes violence, for a while. Eventually the wounds faded and those that stayed became part of the fabric of the brand new country.