P.G.T. Beauregard: Napoleon in Gray (Southern Biography Series) [Paperback]

T. Harry Williams (Author)

Book Description

Series: Southern Biography Series | Publication Date: March 1995

Part of the Southern Biography, P.G.T. Beauregard has been universally regarded as an authoritative portrait of the general. Beauregard participated in every phase of the Civil War from its beginning to end even through rejection of his superiors. He fought and defended the Old South, but after the war, Beauregard was almost the only prominent Confederate general who adapted successfully to the New South, running railroads and later supervising the notorious Louisiana Lottery.

Product Details

• Paperback: 346 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr (March 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807119741
• ISBN-13: 978-0807119747
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #827,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive biography, June 8, 2003

By 

Lamont G. Sible Jr. - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: P.G.T. Beauregard: Napoleon in Gray (Southern Biography Series) (Paperback)

This book must be the definitive biography on General Beauregard. I was highly impressed. William's uses 4 to 6 different sources for each quote and incident. This book tells more about Beauregard than many Civil War Buffs know. William's goes into the Beauregard and Davis feud that lasted not only the entire war, but to their dying days.
I feel it is unfortunate that the feud prevented Davis from employing Beauregard, rather than putting inferior Generals in Beauregards place.
Beauregard seems to be quite the inventor, with a sharp intellect. ( Beauregard once proposed the Confederate Army use Rockets with explosive war heads, a design he had figured out. The Confederate Government thought that idea was too radical, total nonsense, and disregarded it)
William's believes Beauregard performed his best battle in Petersburg 1864, and uses ample sources, and references to make that conclusion, which I agree with.
I've often thought Beauregard would have made a better President than Jefferson Davis, it seems that William's has this belief also.
I must say that William's seems to be a little hard on Davis, I don't know if all of that is justified, though I'm sure some certainly is.
I don't believe there is a better biographical book on P.G.T. Beauregard.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beauregard: feisty and opinionated, December 24, 2005

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: P.G.T. Beauregard: Napoleon in Gray (Southern Biography Series) (Paperback)

The staying power of this book is made obvious in the fact that it was first published in 1955 and it is still in print today. T. Harry Williams is an excellent historian and writer, having won the Pulitzer Prize for his biography on Huey Long. He has written often on the Civil War, including two books on Abraham Lincoln. This is an important work on the "perplexing" Confederate general Beauregard, as combative with his fellow officers as he was with the enemy on the field.

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, a Creole born near New Orleans in 1818, attended West Point and was assigned to the Engineers. He served in the Mexican War, was promoted twice, and after the war was stationed in New Orleans where he made navigational improvements to the Mississippi River. He was made superintendent of West Point in 1861, but after only a month he threw his hat in with the Southern cause and joined the Confederacy, being assigned to Charleston. He ordered the firing on Ft. Sumter that began the conflict and later that year led the Confederate forces at Manassas.

A hero at Bull Run, he was promoted to full general and joined Albert Johnston in Tennessee. Over the course of the war he saw action at Shiloh, the Bermuda Hundred, Petersburg, and finally in the coastal defense of South Carolina and Georgia, where he was when the war ended. After the war he was offered command of army forces in Rumania and Egypt, but decided to stay in Louisiana where he became a successful businessman as president of a Southern railroad company and adjutant general of the state. A great deal of his spare time was spent arguing in articles and books his role in the war and his criticisms of other rebel leaders. He died in 1893.

Beauregard was a competent general, but prone to what we might call today "micromanaging": his war plans could become so detailed that they were almost impossible to carry out. He held Jefferson Davis in very low regard and was also highly critical of Joseph Johnston. Williams's book is very impressive and captures this strange man well. Williams believes that Beauregard might have become a superb general if given the time to develop, but the Civil War offered no such growing room. This is an excellent Civil War biography. Highly recommended.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE GREAT CREOLE, April 4, 2006

By 

Shannon Deason (Houston) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: P.G.T. Beauregard, Napoleon in Gray (Hardcover)

This is a very good book on a very deserving subject. Beauregard often gets overlooked, he was never as beloved as Lee or Stonewall Jackson, but he was capable, the man had a sharp mind and Lee understood this, even if Jefferson Davis did not. The book gives a fascinating look at this intriguing man, though being of Creole heritage I do wish the author had spent more time on Beauregards early life, he came from a first line Creole family and he was a top student at West Point, where he disinguished himself well. This is really the definitive book on Beauregard, highly recommended.