Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/72

 BURNSIDE.

BURNSIDE.

wounded soldier and kept up a deadly fire dur- ing the whole day, when he was wounded and captured, narrowly escaping execution as an unuuifornied combatant. As the Confederates retreated he was left behind. He afterwards made his home on the battle-field, and was placed beyond want through the generosity of thovisands of visitors. The " hero of Gettys- burg " finally lost his mind, wandered to New York city, and in December, 1871, was found in the streets nearly frozen. He was cared for and sent to his home in Gettysburg, Pa., where he died Feb. 7. 1872.

BURNSIDE, Ambrose Everett, soldier, was born in Liberty, Ind., May 23, 1824; fourth son of Edgehill and Pamelia (Bi'own) Burnside. His first American ancestor, Robert Burnside, settled in South Carolina about 1746, having fled from Scotland upon the final defeat of the "Young Pretender,"' whose cause he had espoused. Of his three sons born in America, James during the period of the revolu- tion remained loyal to the crown, and was captain of a regiment of loyalists, who op- 'erated with the Brit- ish army in the south- ern campaigns. As a Tory he fled to the island of Jamaica, but in 1786 returned to South Carolina, where he died in 1798. His widow, with four sons then grown, joined a band of Quaker emigrants bound for a free state, and before setting out gave free- dom to all her slaves. She crossed the Ohio river and located in Indiana. The third son, Edgehill, made his home in Liberty, a new town then just forming. Here he married and brought up a family of nine children. His life was a constant struggle with poverty, and Ambrose, when seven- teen years old, was apprenticed to a tailor. The business was irksome and he showed his inclina- tion to a military life by reading stories of heroes and talking with the old soldiers who had served in the war of 1812. This trait was made the sub- ject of comment by the patrons of the shop, and one of these, Caleb B. Smith, at the time a rep- resentative in Congress, offered to procure for him an appointment to West Point, which he obtained in 1843, and upon his graduation with the class of 1847, Lieutenant Burnside was or- dered to the city of Mexico, then under military occupation by United States troops. He did gar- rison duty there until the return of the army,

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when he served at Fort Adams, at Las Vegas, N. M., where he was wounded, and at Jefferson Barracks, Mo. He resigned his commission as 1st lieutenant of the 3d artillery in 1853, and established at Bristol, R. I., a factory for the manufacture of a breech-loading rifle, which he had invented, and which had received the ap- proval of a board of commissioners appointed by Congress to test its merits in competition with some eighteen different breech-loading arms which had been submitted. This decision justi- fied him in expecting an order from the govern- ment, which not being forthcoming he went to Washington and was informed that he could have the contract upon the payment of a bonus of five thousand dollars to a lobbyist who enjoyed the favor of the war department. This proposi- tion he indignantly refused, and he was there- upon obliged to make an assignment for the benefit of his creditors, and with fifteen dollars in his pocket he started west to retrieve his for- tunes. With the assistance of old friends in Indiana he secured a position in Chicago as cash ier of the land department of the Illinois Central railroad, of which his classmate, Capt. Geo. B. McClellan, was vice-president, and after a year's service became treasurer of the road, with an office in New York city. By practising the strictest economy he paid his debts in full. In 1861 he was appointed, by Governor Sprague, colonel of the 1st Rhode Island volunteers, which he had organized. He led the regiment to Wash- ington by way of Annapolis, Md., and was one of the first to assist in its defence. He after- wards participated in the first battle of Bull Run, where he commanded a brigade at the com- mencement of the engagement, and succeeded to the command of General Hunter's division after that officer was wounded. He w^as promoted brigadier-general and received many public testi- monials for his part in that battle. In the winter of 1861-62 General Burnside was entrusted with the organization of an expedition designed to effect a lodgment upon the shores of North Carolina, and to carry a force into the interior in the rear of the Confederate army in Virginia, to cut off communication with the south. The attack was to be made by sea, and the first move proposed was the capture of Roanoke Island. Some twelve thousand troops were recruited and organized, sixty-five vessels collected and armed, ani on Jan. 12, 186?, the fleet put to sea from Hampton Roads, arriving in Pamlico Sound on the 25th, after a most tempestuous voyage. The island was captured on February 8, after several sharp engagements. Control of Pamlico and Albe- marle sounds being thus secured, the next step was the capture of the town on the mainland, A series of brilliant manoeuvres resulted in the