In 1852 he married Mary Richmond, daughter of Nathanial Bishop, of Providence, Rhode Island, and in November of the same year resigned his commission, having invented a breech-loading rifle, the manufacture of which he wished to superintend. In August, 1857, a board of army officers reported favorably upon the Burnside breech-loader; but the inventor would not pay his way among the underlings of the war department, and was forced to go into bankruptcy. He devoted all his personal property to the liquidation of his debts, sought employment, found it at Chicago, under George B. McClellan, then vice-president of the Illinois Central Railroad, and, by practicing strict economy, he eventually paid every obligation. In June, 1860, he became treasurer of the Illinois Central Railroad, his office being in New York city. In the autumn of that year he visited New Orleans on business, and gained an insight into the movement for secession that shook his lifelong faith in the Democratic party. So confidently did he anticipate war that he set his business affairs in order, and was ready to start at once when, on April 15, 1861, Governor Sprague, of Rhode Island, telegraphed for him to take command of the First Regiment of detached militia. On April 20 the regiment left Providence by sea, and marched, with the other battalions that had been hurried forward from Annapolis to Washington, reaching the capital on the 26th of April. The preliminary operations about Washington soon culminated, owing mainly to popular outcry and political pressure at the north, in the premature advance of the federal army and to the battle of Manassas or Bull Run on the 21st of July. Colonel Burnside commanded a brigade on the extreme right of Hunter’s division, which was detached from the main army early in the morning and sent across an upper ford to turn the Confederate left. The movement was anticipated by the enemy, and a sharp engagement took place, at the beginning of which General Hunter was wounded, leaving Burnside in command. The Confederates were forced back, losing heavily, until nearly noon, when they were reinforced by General Johnston's advance brigade under Jackson, who stemmed the tide of fugitives and there won his name of "Stonewall." By this time Burnside's ammunition was exhausted, and his command had to fall back. It made no further aggressive movement, but retained its organization after the rout of the army and on the retreat toward Washington. A period of comparative inactivity followed, during which Colonel Burnside's regiment was mustered out, on the expiration of its term of service. On August 6, 1861, he was commissioned a brigadier general of volunteers, and given a command of the three-year regiments then assembling at Washington. On the 23d of October General Burnside was directed to organize a "coast division," with headquarters at Annapolis. This force was largely composed of regiments recruited on the New England coasts, and was intended for operations along the lower Potomac and Chesapeake bay. The plan was changed, however, the expeditionary force was largely increased, and on January 12, 1862, a corps of twelve thousand men, on a fleet of forty-six transports, sailed from Hampton Roads with sealed orders directing them to rendezvous in Pamlico sound by way of Hatteras inlet. Within twenty-four hours a heavy gale arose, which lasted nearly two weeks, scattered the fleet and imperiled its safety. On the 25th of January, however, all the vessels had passed through Hatteras inlet and were safe in the sound. On the 5th of February the fleet, with an escort of gun boats, moved toward Roanoke island, a fortified post of the Confederates, and engaged the gunboats and batteries. Within a few hours a landing was effected, and on the 8th of February the Confederate position near the middle of the island was carried and the garrison captured, numbering two thousand five hundred men. The possession of Roanoke island gave command of the extensive land-locked waters of Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, and was one of the earliest substantial successes of the national arms. Newbern, North Carolina, was occupied, after a sharp strug¬gle, on the 14th of March. The surrender of Forts Macon and Beaufort soon followed, and when General Burnside visited the north on a short leave of absence he found himself welcomed as the most uniformly successful of the federal leaders. During the campaign in the Carolinas and the early summer following, the Army of the Potomac, under McClel1an, had been defeated before Richmond, and had in turn repelled the Confederates at Malvern Hill. Burnside relinquished the command of the department of North Carolina, and, with his old division reorganized as the Ninth Corps, was transferred to the Army of the Potomac, which held the north shore of Rappahannock, opposite Fredericksburg. The chief command was offered to Burnside, but he absolutely declined it, frankly declaring that he did not consider himself com¬petent. On the 27th of June the order was issued relieving McClel1an and placing Pope in command. The fortunes of the Confederacy now seemed so distinctly in the ascendant that it was determined at Richmond to assume the offensive. The preparations for the movement were at once known in Washington, and the administration urged General Pope to create a diversion along the line of the Rappahannock. This he attempted, but was foiled almost at all points, and the Army of Virginia, as it was temporarily designated, fell back sullen and demoralized after a second defeat at Manassas, upon the defences of Washington, where Burnside was again asked to take command, but again declined. In its extremity, the administration again called upon McClellan, who, in a remarkably short time, brought order out of chaos and reinspired the army with a degree of confidence. By this time Lee's advance had crossed the Potomac near Sharpsburg, and Burnside was sent to meet him with the First and Ninth Corps. On the 3d of September he left Washington. On the 12th of September he met the enemy's pickets at Frederick City, and on the 14th encountered the Confederates in force at South Mountain, and very handsomely dislodged them from a strong position. The energy of this movement was probably not anticipated by General Lee. He retreated to Antietam creek, threw up entrenchments and awaited attack. To Burnside's Ninth Corps, on the morning of the battle of Antietam (September 17th), was assigned the task of capturing and holding a stone bridge. This was done at a terrible sacrifice of life; but it was the key to the position, and, according to a high Confederate authority (Edward A. Pollard, the historian), if the bridge could have been recaptured the result of the battle of Antietam would have been decisive. The army remained in the neighbor-hood of Sharpsburg until early in November, when McClellan was relieved, and on the 10th of November Burnside reluctantly assumed command. At this time the Confederate army was divided, Longstreet and Jackson commanding, respectively, its right and left wings, being separated by at least two days' march. McClellan and Burnside were always warm personal friends, and the former gave his successor in command the benefit of his projected plans.

A month passed in reorganizing the army in three grand divisions, under Generals Sumner, Franklin and Hooker, with the Eleventh Corps under Sigel as a reserve. The plan was to cross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, and, if possible, crush the separated wings of the Confederate army in detail. The movement began on the 15th of November, and four days later the army occupied the heights opposite Fredericksburg, but with the river intervening and no pontoon train ready. The responsibility for this failure has never been charged to General Burnside, nor has it ever been definitely fixed upon anyone, save a vague and impersonal "department;" but it necessitated a fatal delay, for Lee had moved nearly as rapidly as Burnside, and promptly occupied and fortified the heights south of the river. During the period of enforced inaction that followed, General Burnside went to Washington and expressed his doubts as to the policy of crossing the river, in view of the failure of the attempt to divide Lee's forces. But he was urged to push a winter campaign against Richmond, and, returning to the front, gave orders to place the bridges. This was gallantly effected in the face of a sharp resistance, Fredericksburg was cleared of the enemy, and on the 13th of December, the whole national army had crossed, and was in position south of the Rappahannock. The situation in brief was this: South and in the rear of Fredericksburg is a range of hills irregularly parallel to the course of the river; the space between is a plateau well adapted for the movement of troops. This was occupied by the national army in the three grand divisions specified, Sumner holding the right, Hooker the center, and Franklin the left. The Confederates occupied the naturally strong position along the crest of the hills, and were well entrenched, with batteries in position. Longstreet commanded the right wing, and Jackson the left. The weak point of the Con¬federate line was at its right, owing to a depression of the hills, and here it was at first intended to make a determined assault; but, for some reason, orders were sent to Franklin, at the last moment, merely to make a demonstration, while Sumner attempted to carry Marye's hill, which, naturally a strong position, was rendered nearly impregnable by a sunken road, bordered by a stone wall along its base. The best battalions in the army were sent against this position, but the fire of artillery and infantry was so severe that nothing was gained, although the struggle was kept up till nightfall, General Hooker's division being the last to attack, only to be repelled as its predecessors had been. Burnside would have renewed the attack on the next day, but Sumner dissuaded him at the last moment, and that night the whole army recrossed the river, having lost, in killed and wounded and missing, more than twelve thousand men. Some of these, however, afterward returned to their regiments. The Confederate loss was five thousand three hundred and nine. Insubordination was soon developed among the corps and division commanders, and Burnside issued an order, subject to the president's approval, summarily dismissing several of them from the service, and relieving others from duty. The order, which sweepingly included Hooker, Franklin, Newton, and Brooks, was not approved, and General Burnside was superseded by Major-General Hooker.

Transferred to the Department of the Ohio, with headquarters at Cincinnati, Burnside found himself forced to take stringent measures in regard to the proceedings of southern sympathizers on both sides of the river. On April 13, 1863, he issued his famous general order defining certain treasonable offences, and announcing that they would not be tolerated. Numerous arrests followed, including that of Clement L. Vallandigham, who was tried by military commission for making a treasonable speech, was found guilty, and sentenced to imprisonment during the remainder of the war. This sentence the president commuted to banishment, and Vallandigham was sent within the lines of the Confederacy. The Democrats of Ohio thereupon nominated him for governor, but he was defeated by a majority of more than one hundred thousand. In August, 1863, Burnside crossed the Cumberland mountains at the head of eighteen thousand men, marching two hundred and fifty miles in fourteen days, causing the Confederates, who had their headquarters at Knoxville, to make a hasty retreat. He pushed forward, and Cumberland Gap was captured, with its garrison and stores . Attacked by Longstreet, with a superior force, General Burnside retreated in good order, fighting all the way to Knoxville, where he was fortified and provisioned for a siege by the time Longstreet was ready to invest the place. This movement, according to General Burnside's biographer, was made on his own responsibility to draw Longstreet away from Grant's front, and thus facilitate the defeat of General Bragg, which soon followed. The siege of Knoxville was prosecuted with great vigor for a month, when the approach of General Sherman compelled Longstreet to raise the siege. Immediately afterward General Burnside was relieved, and devoted himself to recruiting and reorganizing the Ninth Corps. In April, 1864, he resumed command at Annapolis, with the corps nearly twenty thousand strong. Attached once more to the Army of the Potomac, this time under General Grant, he led his corps through the battles of the Wilderness and Cold Harbor, and the operations against Petersburg. In these latter engagements the corps suffered very heavily, and General Meade preferred charges of disobedience against Burnside, and ordered a court-martial for his trial. This course was not approved of by General Grant, and, at Burnside's request, a court of inquiry was ordered, which eventually found him "answerable for the want of success." He had always held that the failure was due to interference with his plan of assault, and before a congressional committee of investigation much testimony was adduced to show that this was really the case.

General Burnside resigned from the army on the 15th of April, 1865, with a military record that does him high honor as a patriotic, brave and able officer, to whom that bane of army life, professional jealousy, was unknown. He always frankly admitted his own unfitness for the command of a large army and accepted such commands only under stress of circumstances. Returning to civil life he became at once identified with railroad construction and management. He was elected governor of Rhode Island in April, 1866, and re-elected in 1867 and 1868. Declining a fourth nomination he devoted himself successfully to the great railroad interests with which he was identified. He went to Europe on business during the height of the Franco-Prussian war, and, as a soldier, naturally wished to witness some of the siege operations before Paris. Visiting the Prussian headquarters at Versail1es simply in a private capacity, he found himself called upon to act as an envoy between the hostile forces, which he did, passing back and forth under a flag of truce, endeavoring to further negotiations for peace. In Paris, and among the German besiegers, he was looked upon with the greatest curiosity, and, although his efforts at peace-making were unsuccessful, he secured the lasting respect and confidence of both sides. In January, 1875, after his return to this country, he was elected United States senator from Rhode Island and in 1880 was re-elected. He took a leading position in the senate, was chairman on the committee of foreign affairs and sustained his lifelong character as a fair-minded and patriotic citizen. His death, which was very sudden, from neuralgia of the heart, occurred at his home in Bristol, Rhode Island. The funeral ceremonies assumed an almost national character, for his valuable services as a soldier and as a statesman had secured general recognition, and in his own state he was the most conspicuous man of his time. Burnside was a tall and handsome man, of soldierly bearing, with charming manners, which won for him troops of friends and admirers. He outlived his wife and died childless.

Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana
Volume 1
The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago
1899