Ambrose Burnside Failures

General Ambrose Burnside was a commander, leader, senator, governor, and many other things. He was a part of the Union army. He brave soldier who fought in the Civil War. He had many successes, but he also failed throughout his career.
General Ambrose Burnside was born on May 30, 1824 in Liberty, Indiana. His parents worked as a farmer and a court clerk. When he was young his first job was working as a tailor. In 1843, as he became older his dad decided to help send him to the United States Military Academy. The United States Military Academy was located in West Point. The military life was really hard on him, and he struggled getting used to it. Even though he struggled with the military life, he did really well in his academics (History.com

Staff). In 1847, because of his success in academics he received eighteenth out of thirty eight in his class. Soon after this, Burnside joined to fight in the Mexican-American War. He was an artillery officer. The Mexican-American War lasted from 1846 until 1848. A year later he went to the western frontier to fight. Here an arrow hit his neck. He received this injury in a fight against the Apache. In 1852, he met Mary Richmond Bishop while he was station in Newport, Rhode Island. He then married Mary Richmond Bishop (History.com Staff).
In 1853, Burnside decided he wanted to try to create a new type of rifle, so he resigned from the army. He called it the “Burnside Carbine”. His idea was not very successful and caused him to go into debt. In order to pay off the debt he had to sell his patent. Many people later used this weapon in the Civil War (History.com Staff).
Before his time in the Civil War, Burnside joined the Rhode Island militia as a general. He soon became a treasurer. He was a treasurer for the Illinois Central Railroad (History.com Staff).
At the beginning of the Civil war in 1861, Ambrose Burnside put together a group of soldiers together. These soldiers were called the First Rhode Island Infantry. These groups of soldier were some of the first to get to Washington to help protect the capitol. Ambrose Burnside then, in the battle of Manassas, was in charge of a small group of soldiers (Ambrose E. Burnside). In August of 1861, Burnside got promoted to be the brigadier general (“Burnside, Ambrose Everett). He then led a group of men on an attack against the North Carolina coast. In 1862, Burnside was promoted to a major general because of his success so far in the war (Ambrose E. Burnside). He then fought in the battle of Antietam (“Burnside, Ambrose Everett). Burnside was put in charge of IX Corps and I Corps by General George B. McClellan. During this battle because of some confusion Burnside was not able to get his troops across a stone bridge. The bridge would later be called “Burnside’s Bridge” (Ambrose E. Burnside). This caused the a Union attack to delay which cause the battle to end in a tactical draw (History.com Staff).
On November 10, 1862, Ambrose Burnside was promoted to commander of the Army of the Potomac (“Burnside, Ambrose Everett).

A month later in the Battle of Fredericksburg, Burnside failed and causes the Union another defeat. In this defeat the Union had 13,000 casualties. This mistake caused Burnside to be removed from commander of the Army of the Potomac (Ambrose E. Burnside). In March of 1863, Burnside becomes in charge of the Department of the Ohio. Burnside was responsible for getting a politician named Clement Vallandigham arrested for sedition (History.com Staff). Later in 1863, Burnside was able to hold the city of Knoxville because his troops outmaneuvered General James L. Longstreet (Ambrose E. Burnside). Because of this success, Burnside was awarded with commanding the XI Corps for the Army of the Potomac. Under the leadership of General Ulysses S. Grant, Burnside fought in many more battles. In the siege of Petersburg, the troops put explosives in a mine and exploded a gap in the Confederate line. Burnsides troops were supposed exploit the gap, but they did not do it in time. This delay causes many of the Union soldiers to lose their lives. April 15, 1865, Burnside resigned because of this mistake (Ambrose E.

Burnside).
After Burnsides career in the Civil War he had many other jobs. He was in charge of many railways. He also was the first president of the National Rifle Association (History.com Staff). From 1866 to 1869 Burnside was the governor of Rhode Island. From 1875- 1881 He was a US senator (“Burnside, Ambrose Everett). Ambrose Burnside died in 1881. Burnside was 57 when he died (History.com Staff).
Throughout Ambrose Burnside’s life he did many things. He was a commander, leader, general, senator, and governor. Throughout his life he fought in many battles. He had many great successes. He also had many losses. Ambrose Burnside was a part of many important wars in the Civil War.