Following graduation from West Point in 1847, Ambrose Burnside spent six years in the artillery, part of it on garrison duty in Mexico. He was wounded fighting the Apache Indians in the New Mexico territory in 1849.
Resigning from the army he 1853 he began the manufacture of his design for a breech-loading carbine in Rhode Island. He failed, however, to attract a government contract for the weapons and was forced to assign the patent to creditors.
He raised a regiment at the outbreak of the Civil War and was in charge of a Brigade at 1st Bull Run, being mustered out with the 90 day regiments. He was immediately granted a commission as brigadier general of volunteers. He led a successful expedition against the North Carolina coast at Roanoke Island and New Bern.
His success in that operation led to his being offered the command of the main Union army after McClellans failure in the Peninsula Campaign. He refused the offer, and detached a portion of his corps to aid Pope in the 2nd Bull Run Campaign.
Offered command of the army a second time following the disastrous conclusion of that campaign, he again declined. Instead he was placed in charge of the 1st and 9th Corps, under McClellan during operations to contain Lees offensive into Maryland. He fought at South Mountain and then at Antietam. Slow in pressing his attack across Antietam Creek, he stubbornly ordered piecemeal attack after piecemeal attack across a narrow stone bridge in the face of murderous Rebel fire. The bridge, henceforward known as Burnsides Bridge, finally fell when someone discovered that the shallow creek was easily forded downstream. The resulting hours of delay allowed A.P. Hills division to arrive on the field in the nick of time to prevent a decisive Federal victory.
When McClellan was removed again from command Burnside was finally prevailed upon to accept the overall command of the Army of the Potomac in his place. Attempting to steal a march on Lee, he moved rapidly to Fredericksburg, but was delayed there by the failure of the War Department to supply him with pontoons with which to cross the Rappahannock River. By the time they arrived Lees army had concentrated on the heights overlooking the town. Failing to make any impression with a series of hopeless frontal assaults the Federals suffered yet another bloody defeat.
The next month he launched the ill-fated Mud March, which bogged down in torrential rainstorms that turned the primitive roads of the area into quagmires. The offensive failed miserably. Stung by the outspoken criticism of many of his ranking officers (chiefly Joseph Hooker), he proposed in his stunning General Orders, No. 8 to cashier much of the leadership of the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln would not approve it, and instead relieved Burnside of his command.
Lincoln was unwilling to give up his services entirely and sent him to command the Department of the Ohio. There he dealt with copperhead dissidents like Clement Vallandigham and Rebel raider John Hunt Morgan in a somewhat high-handed way which created much controversy in the area. He moved to defend Knoxville where he found himself besieged by forces under Confederate General James Longstreet. He successfully held Longstreet at bay until a force under Sherman arrived to raise the siege. For the successful defense of Knoxville, Burnside received the Thanks of Congress.
He rejoined the Army of the Potomac in the Eastern theater of operations. He saw action at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, and Cold Harbor. His 9th Corps took up a position in the line during the siege of Petersburg, but he bungled the follow-up assault after the explosion of the mine at the Crater. Following that incident he was sent on extended leave and never recalled. He resigned from the army on April 15, 1865.
In the years following the war he served as the governor of Rhode Island. He was serving as Senator from that state when he died in 1881.
