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The beauregard house and the spirits of shiloh
Pierre Gustave Toutant (P. G. T.) Beauregard was the most famous Civil War soldier from New Orleans. He had a residence in the city and a plantation outside of town. He very briefly had been the commandant of West Point before the war, and during the war served the Confederacy with great distinction. He fired the first shots at Fort Sumter. He helped win the great Southern victory at First Manassas (First Bull Run); and later in the war he conducted a brilliant defense at Petersburg in Virginia, supporting General Robert E. Lee.
But one particular battle always haunted General Beauregard. This was the terrible two day battle of Shiloh, the first major engagement in the West. Thousands of men on each side died in that struggle where some of the war's greatest commanders fought, in addition to Beauregard -- Albert Sidney Johnston (who was slain there), Nathan Bedford Forrest, William T. Sherman, and Ulysses S. Grant.
On the first day the Confederates under Albert Sidney Johnston surprised the Yankees driving them back to Pittsburgh landing on the Tennessee River. General Beauregard acted bravely, helping to bring the Rebels to the gates of victory. But then General Johnston fell to Union fire and died on the field. The command passed to Beauregard who saw the long first day of battle end and anticipated the coming morn when he hoped to finish the foe. But that was not to be. Another entire Union army appeared under General Buell and came to Grant's relief. Beauregard was now outnumbered and could only defend and eventually withdraw. On the field lay thousands dead -- 23,000 casualties in all. The severe loss of life on the blood-soaked field would, according to legend, make its way back to New Orleans.
Over the years there were those who claimed to have seen the ghosts of Confederate soldiers roaming the halls of the Beauregard house on Chartres Street. Apparitions of the battlefield also appeared. Among other things, some say they witnessed wounded men and horses and cannon and rifle fire. Most startling of all, some people claimed to have seen the very ghost of General P. G. T. Beauregard himself. He was seen dressed in Rebel grey, sadly whispering the haunting word -- Shiloh. Shiloh means "Place of Peace."
When I recently walked past the Beauregard-Keyes House, as it is now called, I was still impressed with the dignity and elegance of the old house on Chartres St., which is registered as a National Historical location. Directly across the street from the Beauregard House is another spiritual location, the Old Ursuline Convent, one of the oldest buildings in the Mississippi Valley. The building, the oldest left in the city, was the home of the French Ursuline nuns; and later it became the seat of the Archdiocese as well. St. Louis Cathedral is also on Chartres St. -- a spiritual street to be sure.
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