General G.T.  Beauregard, a citizen of Louisiana, resident of New Orleans, a veteran of the Mexican War, and a recent officer in the United States Engineering Corps, was appointed Brigadier General and placed in command of all the forces around Charleston.  A great many troops from other States, which had also seceded and joined the Confederacy, had come to South Carolina to aid in the capture of Sumter.  General Beauregard was a great favorite with all the people, and the greatest confidence felt in his skill and ability by the soldiers.  The State officers and troops obeyed him cheerfully, and had implicit faith in his military skill.  As he was destined to play an important part in the great role of war that was soon to follow, I will give here a short sketch of his life.  General G.T.  Beauregard was born near the city of New Orleans, May 18th, 1818.  His first ancestors were from Wales, but engaging in an insurrection, they were forced to flee from their country, and sought an asylum in France.  In the last of the thirteenth century one of them became attached to the Court of Philip the IV, surnamed the “Fair.”  He then married Mademoiselle de Lafayette, maid of honor to the sister of Philip.  When Edward, King of England, married the sister of Philip, he followed with his wife the fortunes of the English King, and became a member at the Court of St. James.  He was afterwards assigned to a British post on the continent.  And again this family of the early Beauregards, then called Toutant Beauregard, became citizens of France.  Jacques Beauregard came to Louisiana from France with a colony sent out by Louis XIV.  The grandson of this Jacques is the present Gustav Toutant Beauregard.  At the early age of eleven years he was taken to New York and placed under a private tutor, an exile from France, and who had fled the Empire on the downfall of Napoleon.  At sixteen he entered West Point as a cadet, and graduated July 1st, 1838, being second in a class of forty-five.  He entered the service of the United States as Second Lieutenant of Engineers.  He served with distinction through the Mexican War, under Major General Scott, in the engineer corps.  For gallant and meritorious conduct he was twice promoted—­first to the Captaincy and then to the position of Major.  For a short time he was Superintendent of the West Point Military Academy, but owing to the stirring events just preceding the late war, he resigned on the first of March, 1861.  He entered the service of the Confederate States; was appointed Brigadier General and assigned to the post of Charleston.  Soon after the fall of Sumter he was made full General, and assigned to a command on the Potomac, and with J.E.  Johnston fought the memorable battle of Bull Run.  He was second in command at Shiloh with A.S.  Johnston, then the “Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.”  With J.E.  Johnston he commanded the last remnant of a once grand army that surrendered at Greensboro, N.C.  He returned