Alfred Roman, The military operations of General Beauregard in the war between the states, 1861 to 1865

It is noticeable, also, that Mr. Davis, when writing of these events, lays great stress upon General Ransom's ‘unpublished’ report of the battle of Drury's Bluff, while, on the other hand, he makes not even a passing allusion to the report of General Beauregard, the chief and unquestionably the most trustworthy source of information concerning that battle. That report has been given in this chapter, and the reader should examine it with attention. Every material statement it contains is corroborated and supported by the reports of Generals Hoke, Johnson, Colquitt, and Hagood. As to General Ransom's report, which Mr. Davis quotes as authority in contradiction to General Beauregard's, it is incorrect in many important particulars; so much so that it received General Beauregard's censure at the time, not only because of its inaccuracy with regard to some of the events of the battle, but also because of General Ransom's shortcomings on that occasion, and because of the unauthorized and unofficial manner in which the paper was published in Richmond, before General Beauregard's own report had been forwarded to the War Department.