Ambrose Burnside

30th Governor of Rhode IslandIn office
May 29, 1866 – May 25, 1869LieutenantWilliam Greene
Pardon StevensPreceded byJames Y. SmithSucceeded bySeth PadelfordPresident of the National Rifle AssociationIn office
1871–1872Preceded byOffice establishedSucceeded byWilliam Conant ChurchPersonal detailsBornAmbrose Everts Burnside
May 23, 1824
DiedSeptember 13, 1881 (age 57)
Cause of deathAnginaResting placeSwan Point Cemetery
Providence, Rhode IslandPartyDemocratic (1858–1865)
Republican (1866–1881)SpouseEducationUnited States Military AcademyProfessionSoldier, politician, inventor, industrialistSignatureNicknameBurnsideMilitary serviceAllegianceUnited States (Union)Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Union Army1847–1865RankMajor generalCommandsArmy of the Potomac
Army of the OhioBattles/wars

Ambrose Everts Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American army officer and politician who became a senior Uniongeneral in the American Civil War and a three-time governor of Rhode Island, as well as being an inventor and industrialist.

He achieved some of the earliest victories in the Eastern theater of the Civil War, but was then promoted above his abilities, and is mainly remembered for two disastrous defeats, at Fredericksburg (December 1862) and the Battle of the Crater (July 1864, during the Siege of Petersburg). Although an inquiry cleared him of blame in the latter case, he never regained credibility as an army commander.

Burnside was a modest and unassuming individual, mindful of his limitations, who had been propelled to high command against his will. He could be described as a genuinely unlucky man, both in battle and in commerce (due to various circumstances, most of them beyond his control, he was unable to profit from the successful cavalry firearm that had been his own invention). His style of thick facial hair became known as "sideburns", deriving from the two syllables of his surname.