GENERAL PIERRE G.T. BEAUREGARD - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED CHECK 12/20/1878 - HFSID 278504

PIERRE G. T. BEAUREGARD
1878 check signed by influential Civil War General Pierre G.T. Beauregard.
Check signed "G. T. Beauregard". With pencil notations on verso in unknown hand. 8¼x2½. Dec. 20, 1878. Check no. 107 for $16, made out to "[illegible] Oressend" and drawn on Beauregard's account at the Mutual National Bank. Endorsed by Joseph Oressend. Beauregard (1818-1893, born in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana) was appointed Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in January 1861, but was reassigned less than a week later following his declaration that, should Louisiana secede, he would follow her. Louisiana seceded on January 26, 1861, and Beauregard resigned his U.S. Army commission to become a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army. He was in command at the bombardment of Fort Sumter, giving the order to fire on April 12, 1861, beginning the Civil War. At 1st Manassas (1st Bull Run), Beauregard had his horse shot out from under him, but gave the Confederacy its first victory. He took command at Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing) in Tennessee when General Albert Johnston was killed. After the Civil War, Beauregard was President of the New Orleans, Jackson & Mississippi Railway, Adjutant-General of Louisiana and manager of the Louisiana state lottery. Lightly toned and creased. Normal bank stamps and cancellation cuts, which touch signature. Small tears in check near left edge and in cancellation cuts. Folded once and unfolded. Otherwise in fine condition.