The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-12-29
SOUTHERN GENERAL WHO FIRST
BECAME PROMINENT IN THE WAR.
His Son, Judge Rene T. Deauregard
of New Orleans, Talks of His Mem
tai characteristics and Somewhat
of His Achievements.


most conspicuous place in the city.
The best-known member of the fam
lily of Gen. Beauregard is Judge r. I.
Beauregard, who, with his wife, at
tended the presentation at the school.
and received congratulations, and was
highly pleased with the splendid COM
memorative exercises in honor of his
father. Judge Beauregard is a lawyer
of high standing, and besides having
naen for several years district at
torney in the district including ST.
Bernard and Plauqemines Parishes Is
now one of the judges of the State
Court of Appeals. He was himself an
officer in the Confederate army, though
a mere boy when the war began.
A reporter paid a call to the home
of the judge recently for the purpose
of getting some family "reminiscences
of the general who fired the first gun
of the war and commanded at the sue
cessful battle of Bull Run Judge Beau
regard lives in the parish of St Ber-
nard, perhaps a mile below the Or
leans Parish line, and directly in front
of the monument which marks the spot
where Gen. Jackson had his headquar-
tiers during the battle of New Orleans,
is the center of interest to sightseers
who want to see the battlefield.
Jackson's Headquarters.
Judge Beauregard bought the old
plantation house which was the head
quarters of Gen. Jackson, several years
ago, during his term as district attor-
ney. 1t was then in a most dilapidated
condition. The old house. built on
the style of the familiar plantation
mansions, with its large pillars in
front, it's galleries and great rooms.
was badly out of repair. and looked
almost like ruin. But the Judge has
gradually improved it and added
wooden wing on the lower side, and
made many other important changes.
especially in the grounds, but the old
mansion is still in about the same form,
and the historic rooms are unchanged,
and the Judge and Mrs. Beauregard
take deep interest in everything
which relates to the story of the bat
tie and it's hero. The house stands
far back from the she'll road which
was built not long ago by the super
intendent of the Chalmette National
Cemetery. Before that was done the
road Leading down to the cemetery and
to the monument was Very bad All
along the river front below the city
there were in old times mansions of
rich planters, for the land there was
amazingly fertile. and is still. They
lived there in all the sDlendor of
Southern luxury and hospitality. But
the plantations have been cut up, and
many of Them turned into market
gardens and cattle pastures. Most of
the houses are there still, though, and
give the visitor fair idea of the old
time beauties and splendors, which is
merely an idea, for those old mansions
are never the same without their old
time occupants. In the case of the bat
tlefield plantation house this is not
the case, because it has just the same
kind of occupants who made 1t famous
in the early days.
In front of the mansion is a large
lawn, which is surrounded on all sides
by a hedge of roses, and when they
are in bloom, which is nearly always
in this climate, even in the middle of
winter, it is a very beautiful sight AS
one drives through the big white gate
that is the first thing that he sees, the
house being partly hidden by foliage.
Then there are some wonderful cedar
trees, tall and straight, with beauti-
full tufted heads. Cedar trees do not
generally flourish on that sort of fiat
soil. but those are phenomenal. There
are plenty of other trees and shrub
berry, but these are the two features
that seemed to be most prominent
as they were seen in the beautiful
moonlight of November evening.
To the right and back of the house
stands the uncompleted monument of
white marble which the ladies are try
ing to finish. There is a wide lawn
reaching back to 1t, with a white Schil-
linger walk leading through it, and
there hundreds of people go to see
Chalmette.
The coast down there is remote from
the city, owing to imperfect transpor-
tation facilities, and there has been
an effort to have the electric car line
extended from the city line to Port
Chalmette, the big shipping place
couple of miles below but though there
are hundreds of lalborers who have to
walk to the car line, the hundreds OF
people who visit the battle ground,
and as many more who would do so,
it has never succeeded.
1--WE have poor facilities for attend
ing the theater or anything like that,
because we must drive to the city line
and keep the horse waiting there" said
the judge.
When the reporter reached the par
ish line he had been met by a small,
typical colored driver, who said: Yah,
dis Judge Bogard's ca'ige," and drove
like mad to the big gate. On the way
he explained that "das Marse Henry
Bogard's house dar." 1t is another
plantation mansion, just above that of
the Judges. Mr.. Cenas, brother-in-
Jaw, lives little higher up also.
Reserved Even i'm His Family.
Seated in his library in the old man
sion, Judge Beauregard talked inter-
estingly of his father. Gen. Beaure-
gard never, lived on that plantation.
His place was at Terreaux Boeufs, fur
Their down the coast, but in the early
DAYS he lived in New Orleans, on Roy
al street, and that was where his sons
first came to know him, and where
their earliest remembrance reaches
from. In those days he was not the So
cial friend that he became in later
years. His sons remember him as an
army engineer, whom they admired
with a thrill OF awe. After referring to
that period Judge Beauregard said:
"Then those blank spaces of time
which take place in life and which are
a closed book to investigation suddenly
ceased, and my continuous remem-
brance of my father dates from after
the Mexican war, when he, under Maj.
Barnard, afterward Gen. Barnard, had
charge Of the coast defense OF this
state, and afterward. he had
charge of the Custom House,
of which he assumed charge In it's
then less than two-thirds completed
condition. During this period and up
to the war Mai. Beauregard was to US,
and such was his general repute, taci-
turn, laconic Of speech, devoid of en-
thusiasm, and intent only on the dis
charge OF his duties. Those last two