^#1878 ^Lot 1938 P. G. T. Beauregard

Brigadier General of the Confederate Provisional Army (1818–1893) who commanded the forces at Charleston, where he ordered the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Extremely rare partly-printed DS, signed “G. T. Beauregard,” one page, 10 x 6.5, April 25, 1867. A handsomely engraved certificate for four shares of stock in the New Orleans, Jackson, & Great Northern Railroad Company issued to S. Moses, at $.25 a share, signed at the conclusion by Beauregard as the company’s president. In very good condition, with intersecting folds, a couple passing through single letters of signatures, moderate contrast to end of signature, uniform toning, with a slightly heavier block over end of signature from revenue stamp, and scattered light creases and wrinkles.

Beauregard’s first employment following the war was as chief engineer and general superintendent of the New Orleans, Jackson, and Great Northern Railroad. Stretching 206 miles from New Orleans to Canton, Mississippi, the railroad was Louisiana’s longest, and one of the finest in the Confederacy. Suffering numerous attempts by Union forces to disrupt it, the railroad emerged from the war in ruins. Beauregard was promoted to company president in 1866, a position he retained until 1870. A rare document, only one of two such certificates known to exist.