Position at Antietam
Wing Commander, Army of the Potomac (Age 38 at the battle)
Personal
1824-1881 Indiana
Nickname: Old Burn
Born in Liberty, Indiana. Son of Edghill Burnside, originally a slaveholder from South Carolina. Young Burnside apprenticed as a tailor before attending West Point. In 1852, married Mary Richmond Bishop of Providence, RI; no children.
Education
West Point Class of 1847, ranked 18th of 37. Classmates: Orlando Willcox, A.P. Hill, John Gibbon, and Henry Heth; One year behind George McClellan and “Stonewall” Jackson; Commissioned in the 3rd Artillery
Mexican War
Arrived in Mexico too late to participate in major fighting.
Other military career highlights
Shot in the neck by an Apache arrow in a skirmish on Aug 23, 1849; A lieutenant in Braxton Bragg’s artillery battery; Resigned October 2, 1853.
Civilian career highlights
Inventor of the Burnside breech loading rifle; the government contract for the rifle was rescinded and his Bristol Iron Works went bankrupt in 1858. Hired by George McClellan as cashier/treasurer of Illinois Central Railroad 1858-1861.
Civil War
Brigade commander at First Bull Run; Commanded the “Coast Division” that captured Roanoke and other towns in North Carolina, January – July 1862; His command was transferred to the Army of the Potomac where it was redesignated Ninth Corps; Declined President Lincoln’s offer of command of the Army of the Potomac (twice); Commanded right wing of the Army of the Potomac during the Maryland Campaign until after the battle of South Mountain; Commanded Ninth Corps at Antietam; Appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac in November 1862; Defeated by Lee at the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 1862; Commanded Department of Ohio until December 1863, including the siege of Knoxville; Returned to the Army of the Potomac as commander of the Ninth Corps; Fought in Overland Campaign in May-June 1864; Largely responsible for Union defeat at the Battle of the Crater (during Siege of Petersburg); Placed on leave after that; Resigned April 15, 1865.
Postwar
Governor of Rhode Island, 1867-1869; U.S. Senator from RI, 1875-1881.
Death
Died suddenly of “neuralgia of the heart” on September 13, 1881 in Bristol, RI. Age 57
Quotes
“A good fellow certainly, manly, honest and comely but of only moderate mind and attainments who made our cause suffer more in battle than any other General.” Gouverneur Warren
“Burnside promptly ended all grumbling by moving himself and his headquarters staff off the fine new steamer that had been set aside for him and embarking the smallest and most rickety little vessel of the lot-and almost paid for it with his life when the fleet ran into a gale off Cape Hatteras and the little steamer came within an inch of foundering.” Bruce Catton
“General Burnside was an officer who was generally liked and respected. He was not, however, fitted to command an army. No one knew this better than himself. He always admitted his blunders and extenuated those of officers under him.” U.S. Grant
“His bearing under fire was good and his personal courage beyond question. He shrank from responsibility with sincere modesty, because he questioned his own capacity to deal with affairs of great magnitude.” Jacob Cox
“In Reno’s death he [Burnside] seemed to lose his right bower, his directing genius.” Nelson Davis, an aide to McClellan, on the impact of Reno’s death at South Mountain on Burnside
“The commanding general has learned that, although your corps was ordered to be in a designated position at 12 pm. [noon] today, at or near sunset only one division and four batteries had reached the ground intended for your troops.” George McClellan to Burnside, September 16, 1862
“McClellan appears to think I am not trying my best to carry this bridge! You are the third or fourth one who has been to me this morning with similar orders.” Burnside to a staff officer sent repeating the order to him to capture the bridge.
“He is a jolly bugger & will joke with a private as quick as an officer.” Walter Chapman, a Massachusetts soldier pulling guard duty outside Burnside’s HQ describes him