Pierre Beauregard

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NAPOLEON IN GRAY
Born on 28 May 1818 (“Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard: 1818-1893”) in St. Bernard’s Parish, just south of New Orleans ("Pierre Beauregard"), Piérre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard was born to the wealthy Creole planter (Meehan), Jacques Elie Toutant Beauregard, and Judith Helene Antonia de Reggio(“Georgia's Confederate Officers Genealogy.”). He came from a prosperous and old Creole family that had had great influence on the community (“Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, CSA.”).
He was brought up in a very Gallic fashion and possessed a like temperament (Gunn). He spoke French before he spoke English, and at an early age showed interest in Military History (“Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, CSA.”), being especially interested in the campaigns of Napoleon Buonaparte (Gunn), later earning him the nickname “Little Napoleon” (Sifakis, Stewart).
His parents enrolled him in a French Military Academe in New York city (Gunn), where he learned English ("Pierre Beauregard"). However, his proficiency in French allowed him to read many military classics in their original language (“Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, CSA.”).
Beauregard entered the U.S. Military College at West Point and became the pupil of Robert Anderson, whom Piérre would later defeat in his attempts to defend Ft. Sumter(Gunn). Among his classmates were the yet-to-be Confederate officers Hardee and Sibley, and the future Union military leaders Barry, Nichols, Granger and Mc Dowell (“Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard: 1818-1893”). The latter he would soon defeat at the first Bull Run battle (“Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, CSA.”). He graduated second in the 1838 class of forty-five students at the age of twenty.
While in West Point he dropped the hyphen between Toutant and Beauregard and soon after discarded his first name to be forthright known as Gustave Toutant Beauregard, or for further curtness G.T. Beauregard. H...