Beschreibung:

Approx. 1.75 x 2 in. oval portrait in frame, with "Brig. Gen. Beauregard / C.S. Army" on verso. Hung on a cord of material used in epaulets, approximately bracelet-length. Miniature seems to be based on the portrait of Beauregard by George Peter Alexander Healy that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. He only held the rank of Brig. General for a short time before being appointed full General (behind Cooper, A. Johnston, J. Johnston and Lee). The portrait was also painted in 1861. This reportedly came out of an estate in Mobile, AL. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (1818-1893) graduated from USMA in 1838 and entered the engineering corps. Because of Beauregard's engineering experience and Southern gentlemanly demeanor, Jefferson Davis assigned him to Charleston Harbor in March 1861, which included Fort Sumter. He had been a student of Major Robert Anderson's at West Point, and the trust between the men insured that at least lines of communication were open, although each was following his own orders. Beauregard, of course, felt it necessary to bombard the fort, the first shots fired in the Civil War.