Home > American Civil War > Ambrose Burnside Biography

Born May 23, 1824
Liberty, Indiana
Died September 13, 1881
Bristol, Rhode Island

Union general
Best known for his decisive defeat at the Battle of
Fredericksburg and his unsuccessful "Crater"
attack during the siege of Petersburg

Ambrose Burnside is best known for his disastrous command of the Union's Army of the Potomac from November 1862 to January 1863. During the course of this three-month period, Burnside's army suffered a major defeat at Fredericksburg, Virginia, at the hands of Confederate general Robert E. Lee (1807–1870; see entry). Burnside then tried to rally his army by launching an offensive across Virginia's Rappahannock River, but the Union march fell apart when bad weather reduced the army's route to a muddy quagmire. After his removal from command of the Army of the Potomac, Burnside served the North well by helping to hold Knoxville,...