Beauregard, Pierre Gustave Toutant, 1818-1893 [Broadside version of a letter to Braxton Bragg]

Printed broadside version of a letter from Beauregard to Braxton Bragg encouraging aggressive tactics. Bragg had the letter printed as a broadside "for the information and guidance of this army." States "When without orders or at a loss to know what to do in action, they must rapidly advance in the direction of the heaviest firing-for the art of war consists in the concentration of masses against fractions of masses; moreover, our motto should be 'Forward, and always forward,' until victory may perch decisively upon our banners. The more rapid the attack, the weaker, habitually, the resistance." Also encourages rewarding brave troops and punishing cowards. "Regiments, whose gallantry and bravery shall have been most conspicuous, will be allowed to inscribe on their banners the name of the battle field on which they were engaged; but regiments misbehaving in action, will be deprived of their colors until they may have shown themselves worthy of defending them." Certified and signed by Poole as Assistant Adjutant General. Beauregard had taken command of the Army of Tennessee just one month earlier, after the Battle of Shiloh, a battle in which the Confederates may have been too passive in their attack once they had the advantage.