Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard (P. G. T. Beauregard, 1818 to 1893) was an engineer and Confederate general during the American Civil War. He is famous as the first general commissioned to lead the Provisional Army of the Confederate States (on 1 March 1861) and the Confederate officer who ordered the first shots fired at the Battle of Fort Sumter on 12 April 1861, starting the war. As such, he became the first war hero of the Confederacy, and his popularity in the South became even greater after he commanded the Confederate Army (along with General Joseph E. Johnston) at the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas) on 21 July 1861, the first major battle of the Civil War and a decisive Confederate victory.
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