Editing P. G. T. Beauregard (section)

==Early life and education==
[[File:P G T Beauregard by Richard Clague.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|Pierre G. T. Beauregard as a young man, painting by [[Richard Clague]]]]
Beauregard was born at the "Contreras" sugar-cane [[plantations in the American South|plantation]] in [[St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana]], about {{convert|20|mi|km}} outside [[New Orleans]], to a [[Louisiana Creole people|Louisiana Creole]] family. Beauregard was the third child of Hélène Judith de Reggio, of mixed [[French people|French]] and [[Italian people|Italian]] ancestry and descendant of [[François Marie, Chevalier de Reggio|Francesco Maria de Reggio]], member of an [[Italians|Italian]] [[noble family]] whose family had migrated first to [[Kingdom of France|France]] and then to [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]], and her husband, Jacques Toutant-Beauregard, of [[French people|French]] and [[German people|German]] ancestry.<ref>Williams, pp. 2–3.</ref> He had three brothers and three sisters. As was typical for Louisiana Creoles, his family spoke French and practiced [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/history/catholics-and-the-civil-war.html|title=Catholics and the Civil War|access-date=August 18, 2017|language=en-gb|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818215103/http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/history/catholics-and-the-civil-war.html|archive-date=August 18, 2017}}</ref>

Beauregard had several [[Creoles of color|Creole of color]] cousins and uncles; the Creole of color side of Beauregard's family came from a marriage between Marguerite Pantalon (daughter of a prominent New Orleans Creole of color family) and one of Beauregard's uncles, Martin Barthelemy Toutant Beauregard.<ref name="emilyclark">{{cite book |title=The Strange History of the American Quadroon Free Women of Color in the Revolutionary Atlantic World|author=Emily Clark|publisher= University of North Carolina Press|year=2013|isbn=9781469607535|location=United States of America|pages=94}}</ref><ref name="seanmichaelchick">{{cite book |title=Dreams of Victory General P. G. T. Beauregard in the Civil War|author=Sean Michael Chick|publisher=Savas Beatie|year=2022|isbn=9781611215229|location=United States of America|pages=2–3, 9–10}}</ref>

As a child, he befriended and played with slave boys his own age, including his favorite friend, the tall and strong storyteller Baptiste; Beauregard was often seen following and frolicking by Baptiste's side. Beauregard was nursed by a slave woman from [[Saint-Domingue]] (later [[Haiti]]) named Mamie Françoise Similien.<ref name="Williams, pp. 3">Williams, pp. 3</ref><ref name="seanmichaelchick"/>

Similien and Beauregard had a very close relationship, often seen giving each other hugs and kisses. Similien was held in the Beauregards' highest esteem, and after Pierre's grandfather died, the Beauregard family gave Similien a Creole Cottage in the [[Tremé|Faubourg Treme]] of New Orleans.<ref name="seanmichaelchick"/>

Pierre often visited with Mamie, and during an interview with a reporter of the [[The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate|New Orleans Times]] in 1882, while sharing stories of Pierre's youth and growing up, Mamie pointed to a personal portrait that Pierre gave her during a visit in 1867, saying "that's my son".<ref name="Williams, pp. 3"/><ref name="Williams, pp. 12–13">Williams, pp. 12–13</ref><ref name="seanmichaelchick" />

Beauregard grew up in a large one-story house, unlike the "later plantation palaces, but a mansion of aristocracy by the standards of its time." He hunted and rode in the woods and fields around his family's plantation and paddled his boat in its waterways.<ref name="Williams, pp. 12–13"/> Beauregard attended New Orleans private schools and then went to a "French school" in [[New York City]]. During his four years in New York, beginning at age 12, he learned to speak English, as [[French language|French]] had been his first and only language in Louisiana.<ref>Williams, p. 5; Detzer, ''Allegiance'', p. 207.</ref>

===West Point===
Beauregard attended the [[United States Military Academy]] at [[West Point, New York]]. One of his instructors was [[Robert Anderson (major)|Robert Anderson]], the later commander of [[Fort Sumter]]; he surrendered to Beauregard at the start of the Civil War. Upon enrolling at West Point, Beauregard dropped the hyphen from his surname and treated Toutant as a middle name, to fit in with his classmates. From that point on, he rarely used his first name, preferring "G. T. Beauregard."<ref>Williams, p. 6; Woodworth, p. 72.</ref> He graduated second in his class in 1838 and excelled both as an [[artillery]]man and [[military engineer]]. His Army friends gave him many nicknames: "Little Creole", "Bory", "Little [[Frenchman]]", "Felix", and "Little [[Napoleon]]".<ref name=Eicher>Eicher, pp. 123–124.</ref>

In February 1845, Beauregard returned to Louisiana, where he moved into the [[French Quarter]] of New Orleans, living in a prominent Creole of color neighborhood on St. Louis Street. Beauregard maintained an office on [[Bourbon Street]], where he continued his work for the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]]. In the meantime, he worked on an improved furnace for boiling sugar.<ref name="seanmichaelchick"/>