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BURNSIDE, AMBROSE EVERETT (1824-1881)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 861 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BURNSIDE, See also:AMBROSE See also:EVERETT (1824-1881) , See also:American soldier, was See also:born at See also:Liberty, See also:Indiana, on the 23rd of May 1824, of Scottish See also:pedigree, his American ancestors settling first in See also:South Carolina, and next in the See also:north-See also:west See also:wilderness, where his parents lived in a See also:rude See also:log See also:cabin. He was appointed to the See also:United States military See also:academy through casual favour, and graduated in 1847, when See also:war with See also:Mexico was nearly over. In 1853 he resigned his See also:commission, and from 1853 to 1858 was engaged in the manufacture of firearms at See also:Bristol, R.I. In 1856 he invented a See also:breech-loading See also:rifle. He was employed by the See also:Illinois Central railroad until the See also:Civil War See also:broke out. Then he took command of a Rhode See also:Island See also:regiment of three months See also:militia, on the See also:summons of See also:Governor Sprague, took See also:part in the See also:relief of the See also:national See also:capital, and commanded a See also:brigade in the first See also:battle of See also:Bull Run. On the 6th of See also:August 1861 he was commissioned brigadier-See also:general of See also:volunteers, and placed in See also:charge of the expeditionary force which sailed in See also:January 1862 under sealed orders for the North Carolina See also:coast. The victories of See also:Roanoke Island, See also:Newbern and Fort See also:Macon (February—April) were the See also:chief incidents of a See also:campaign which was favourably contrasted by the See also:people with the See also:work of the See also:main See also:army on the See also:Atlantic coast. He was promoted See also:major-general U.S.V. soon afterwards, and See also:early in See also:July, with his North Carolina troops (IX. army See also:corps), he was transferred to the Virginian See also:theatre of war. Part of his forces fought in the last battles of See also:Pope's campaign in See also:Virginia, and Burnside himself was engaged in the battles of South See also:Mountain and See also:Antietam. At the latter he was in command of McClellan's See also:left wing, but the want of vigour in his attack was unfavourably criticized. His patriotic spirit, modesty and amiable See also:manners, made him highly popular, and upon McClellan's final removal (Nov.

7) from the Army of the See also:

Potomac, See also:President See also:Lincoln See also:chose him as successor. The choice was unfortunate. Much as he was liked, no one had ever looked upon him as the equal of McClellan, and it was only with the greatest reluctance that he himself accepted the responsibility, which he had on two previous occasions declined. He sustained a crushing defeat at the battle of Fredericksburg (13 Dec. 1862), and (See also:Jan. 27) gave way to Gen. See also:Hooker, after a See also:tenure of less than three months. Transferred to See also:Cincinnati in See also:March 1863, he caused the See also:arrest and See also:court-See also:martial of See also:Clement L. See also:Vallandigham, lately an opposition member of See also:Congress, for an alleged disloyal speech, and later in the See also:year his See also:measures for the suppression of See also:press See also:criticism aroused much opposition; he helped to crush See also:Morgan's See also:Ohio See also:raid in July; then, moving to relieve the See also:loyalists in See also:East See also:Tennessee, in See also:September entered See also:Knoxville, to which the Confederate general See also:James See also:Longstreet unsuccessfully laid See also:siege. In 1864 Burnside led his old IX. corps under See also:Grant in the Wilderness and See also:Peters-See also:burg See also:campaigns. After bearing his part well in the many bloody battles of that See also:time, he was overtaken once more by disaster. The failure of the " Burnside mine " at See also:Petersburg brought about his resignation.

A year later he left the service, and in 1866 he became governor of Rhode Island, serving for three terms (1866-1869). From 1875 till his See also:

death he was a Republican memberof the United States Congress. He was See also:present with the See also:German headquarters at the siege of See also:Paris in 1870—7 I. He died at Bristol, Rhode Island, on the 13th of September 1881. See B. P. See also:Poore, See also:Life and Public Services of Ambrose E. Burnside (See also:Providence, 1882) • A. See also:Woodbury, Major-General Burnside and the Ninth Army Corps (Providence, 1867).

End of Article: BURNSIDE, AMBROSE EVERETT (1824-1881)

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