Apr 27, 2017 - Sale 2444

Sale 2444 - Lot 101

Price Realized: $ 5,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
ACCUSING JOHNSTON OF FORGETTING "THE MEMORY OF THE LOST CAUSE" (CIVIL WAR--CONFEDERATE.) Beauregard, Pierre G. T. Letters to a Confederate widow, discussing his war service and his fellow generals. 12 Autograph Letters Signed as "G.T. Beauregard" to Elizabeth Louisa Knight Harris of Louisa County, VA; a few with minor to moderate dampstaining, condition otherwise strong; 9 of the letters with their original mailing envelopes. New Orleans, LA and elsewhere, 1868-92
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Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard (1818-1893), one of the leading generals of the Confederacy, wrote these letters to Elizabeth Louisa Knight (circa 1824-1895), the widow of a Confederate engineer, Colonel David Bullock Harris (1814-1864), who had served under Beauregard. Some of the letters are personal. A poignant 16 July 1884 letter discusses the death of his only daughter Laura Beauregard Larendon, who left two small children: "It is sad, very sad indeed, to see them so pretty, innocent & helpless. Their poor mother was the sweetest & best daughter & wife that ever lived. She was my all."
The letters make frequent reference to the Civil War. In the same 1884 letter, he recommends Alfred Roman's recent book "The Military Operations of General Beauregard in the War between the States": "I hope you will make a success canvassing for it. It seems to me that every Virginian who can buy it, ought to do so, for I believe that I was of some service to that state in 1861 & 1864." The book is mentioned in other letters. On 10 March 1891, he expressed disapproval of the Confederate General Joseph Johnston's attendance at Sherman's funeral: "I regret that Genl J should have taken such a prominent part in Genl S's funeral services. His self-respect & the memory of the lost cause sh'd have taught him better." On 20 April 1892 he dismissed a book by his fellow Confederate general Armistead Lindsay Long: "Every one knows that Gen'l Long is only a crank who has little regard for the truth! He and his book are beneath notice!"