Few Civil War generals attracted as much debate and controversy as Pierre Gustav Toutant Beauregard. P. G. T. combined brilliance and charisma with arrogance and histrionics. He was a Catholic Creole in a society dominated by white Protestants, which made him appear exotic next to the likes of Albert Sidney Johnston and Robert E. Lee.
He was reviled by Jefferson Davis and often mocked by Mary Chesnut in her diary. Yet, he was popular with his...