AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE, THE DEFENDER

OF KNOXVILLE

was

AMBROSE EVERETT BURNSIDE was born at Liberty, Indiana, May 23, 1824. Here he learned the trade of tailoring, being subsequently sent to West Point, where he graduated in 1847. He left the army in 1852, with the rank of first lieutenant, afterwards making Rhode Island his place of residence. When the Civil War began he was appointed colonel of a volunteer regiment of Rhode Island troops, and with these took part in the battle of Bull Run, where he commanded General Hunter's brigade when the latter wounded. In August he was made a brigadier-general. Burnside had shown himself skilful and able, and in January, 1862, he was selected for an important service, as commander of the troops, sixteen thousand in number, sent to take possession of important points on the coast of North Carolina. The expedition numbered over a hundred vessels, of various styles and sizes, which left Hampton Roads on the 11th, their destination a profound secret. The Confederate authorities, however, were not deceived as to the purpose of the expedition, and when it appeared off Roanoke Island on the 5th of February, after suffering some loss from stormy weather, it found forts and garrison awaiting.

The attack began with a cannonade from the fleet which did some damage to the forts. This was followed by the landing of a strong force of troops, who attacked the works on the 8th in overwhelming num

bers. The fortifications were soon carried, three thousand prisoners falling into the hands of the assailants. The Government thus won with ease a strong position on the southern coast. A month later the towns of Newberne, on the Neuse River, and Beaufort, with Fort Macon, on Beaufort Harbor, were taken, together with some smaller places. Burnside's operations in this locality ended in July, when he was hastily summoned, with all the forces he could bring, to Fortress Monroe, General McClellan being apparently in great danger.

Burnside in these operations had shown much energy, judgment, and sagacity. He was rewarded for his success with the rank of major-general and the command of a corps in McClellan's army. His next prominent service was on the battle-field of Antietam, where, on the morning of September 17, he was directed to cross the bridge over Antietam Creek, carry the heights opposite and advance along them to Sharpsburg.

In this he had a most difficult and dangerous task, the approach to the bridge being a defile exposed to a raking fire from artillery and musketry. Several attempts to cross were repulsed with severe loss, and it was one o'clock in the afternoon before a crossing was forced and the heights were gallantly charged and taken. The movement was a threatening one for Lee, as it might have led to the capture or destruction of his whole army. Fortunately for him, General Hill's division, on its way from the capture of Harper's Ferry, came up at this critical moment and drove back Burnside's men with a heavy artillery fire. The bridge was held, but the heights were lost and the promising manœuvre failed.

Burnside's successful operations in North Carolina and the fine generalship he had shown at Antietam had brought him into marked prominence, and when the Government, exasperated at the slowness of McClellan after his victory, decided to remove him from command, Burnside appeared to be the most suitable person to succeed him. The order relieving McClellan and putting Burnside in his place, as commander of the army of the Potomac, reached the camp near Fort Royal on November 7, 1862. Burnside accepted the honor reluctantly, but the orders of the Government were peremptory, and on the 10th he agreed to try to do his best.

It is a question if the Government did not make a serious mistake in the removal of McClellan at this juncture, when his period of preparation seemed at an end and he was apparently on the point of delivering battle, with promise of success. McClellan's plan was to attack Lee directly and seek the destruction of his army. Burnside, on the contrary, made the capture of Richmond his object. He accordingly advanced to the Rappahannock, opposite the city of Fredericksburg, with the intention of crossing at once and occupying the city and the commanding heights in the rear.

This might easily have been done at the time, but Burnside delayed to bring up pontoon bridges and repair the railroad to Acquia Creek, his line of supplies. He feared that a heavy rain might cut off any party that crossed the river before the pontoons had reached him. In consequence weeks of delay and inaction followed, and by the time Burnside was ready to move, Lee had fully occupied and built strong fortifications on the Fredericksburg heights. The works were so formidable that to attack them, with Lee's veterans

behind them, seemed but a forlorn hope, if it could be called a hope of any kind.

A plan was devised by Burnside to cross at a point twelve miles down the river, but Lee discovered the movement and sent out a heavy force to that locality, where it was kept in readiness. Burnside now fancied that he might win by a sudden movement at Fredericksburg while Lee's forces were divided, and during the night and morning of December II the pontoon bridges were thrown across the river. But a party of sharpshooters concealed in the town so delayed the work that it was evening before the bridges could be crossed and the town occupied, and the following day passed before the army was across. All had passed the bridge except the centre division, under Hooker, which was held back as a reserve.

The fallacious hope which Burnside had entertained, of taking Lee by surprise while the army was divided, had been destroyed by the delay in crossing. Jackson's force, whose extreme right had been posted eighteen miles down the river, had been called in, and the whole of Lee's army, eighty thousand strong, lay behind the works on the heights, in which three hundred cannon were posted.

An assault on so strong and well defended a position was perilous, but Burnside felt that he had been put at the head of the army to fight, he had crossed the river to fight, and to withdraw now without a struggle might be hailed as sheer cowardice. His troops were accordingly set in motion and were hurled along the whole line of Confederate works. Franklin on the left, Sumner on the right, marched gallantly against the intrenchments, which belched out torrents of cannon and musket fire and rent great lanes through the col