2022 FALL PREMIER AUCTION

West Point graduate P.G.T. Beauregard was a distinguished engineer officer who saw action in the Mexican American War. After serving as superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, Beauregard resigned his commission to join the Confederate States Army in 1861. It was Beauregard who led the attack on Fort Sumter which began the American Civil War. Beauregard rose steadily through the upper ranks as the war progressed, winning the Battle of First Manassas, and repeatedly saving the Confederate Army from defeat with his superior knowledge of military strategy. Unfortunately, his poor relationship with Confederate President Jefferson Davis cost him larger commands. After the war Beauregard advocated for rights for African Americans and famously turned down an invitation to lead Jefferson Davis’s funeral procession, stating, "We have always been enemies. I cannot pretend I am sorry he is gone. I am no hypocrite." Though born Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard and referred to by historians as P.G.T. Beauregard, the General rarely used his first name, signing all his correspondence as “G.T. Beauregard,” as can be seen on this signed cut. Beauregard signed the sheet in black fountain pen, and he completed it with an extravagant flourish beneath his name. The edges show toning and there is a smudge above the “B” and another to the right of the signature. A very attractive example of one of the Confederacy’s greatest military men. The piece comes with a modern colorized portrait of P.T. Beauregard.