Beauregard Appointed, Texas Joins the Confederacy

P. G. T. Beauregard

On March 1st, 1861, the Confederate Congress appointed P. G. T. Beauregard Brigadier-General in the new Confederate army and sent him to Charleston, South Carolina. The governor of South Carolina turned the situation in Charleston over to the new Confederate government. He was a military engineer from the United States army and a veteran of the Mexican-American War. He was the first general to be appointed by the new government.

In Charleston the Northern troops in Fort Sumter were in good spirits, but on the same day Major Anderson, their commander, said that they must be relieved or they would be forced to capitulate. This would be disadvantageous for Lincoln, who wished to force the Confederates into firing the first shot.

Also on March 1st Texas joined the Confederacy. The commander of the Union forts in Texas, General David Twiggs, surrendered the federal property to the state troops. He was dismissed for treason and became a Confederate general, but died during the war.

Gen. David Twiggs