of Sharpsburg until early in November, when Mc-
Clellan was relieved, and on 10 Nov. Burnside re-
luctantly 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 array in three grand divisions, under Generals Suraner, Franklin, and Hooker, with the 11th corps under Sigel as a re- serve. The plan was to cross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg and, if possible, crush the separated wings of the confederate army in detail. The move- ment began 15 Nov., 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 Gen. Burnside, nor has it ever been definitely fixed upon any one save a vague and impersonal " department " ; but it necessitated a fatal delay, for Lee had moved nearly as rapidly as BurUside, and promptly occupied and fortified the heigiits south of the river. During the period of enforced inaction that followed, Gen. 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 cleai'ed of the enemy, and on 13 Dec. the whole national army had crossed and was in posi- tion south of the Rappahannock. The situation in brief was this : South and in the rear of Fred- ericksburg 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 centre, and Franklin the left. The Confederates occupied the naturally strong position along the crest of the hills, and were well intrenched, with batteries in position. Longstreet commanded the right wing, and Jack- son the left. The weak point of the Confederate 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, Gen. 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, wounded, and missing, more than 12,000 men. Some of these, however, afterward returned to their regiments. The Confederate loss was 5,309. Insubordination was soon developed among the corps and division commanders, and Burnside issued an order, sub- ject to the president's approval, summarily dis- missing several of them from the service, and re- lieving others fi'om duty. The order, which sweepingly included Hooker, Franklin, Newton, and Brooks, was not approved, and Gen. Burnside was superseded by Maj.-Gen. Hooker. Transferred to the department of the Ohio, with headquarters at Cincinnati, Burnside found him- self forced to take stringent measures in regard to the proceedings of southern sympathizers on both sides of the river. On 13 April, 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 impris- onment 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 100,000. Li August, , Burnside crossed the Cumberland mountains at the head of 18,000 men, marching 250 miles in 14 days, causing the Confederates, who had their head- quarters at Knoxville, to make a hasty retreat. He pushed forward, and Cumberland Gap was cap- tured, with its garrison and stores. Attacked by Longstreet, with a superior force, Gen. 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 in- vest the place. This movement, according to Gen. Burnside's biographer, was made, on his own re- sponsibility, to draw Longstreet away from Grant's front, and thus facilitate the defeat of Gen. Bragg, which soon followed. The siege of Knoxville was prosecuted with great vigor for a month, when the approach of Gen. Sherman compelled Longstreet to raise the siege. Immediately afterward Gen. Burnside was relieved, and devoted himself to re- cruiting and reorganizing the 9th corps. In April, , he resumed command at Annapolis, with the corps nearly 20,000 strong. Attached once more to the army of the Potomac, this time under Gen. 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 Gen. Meade preferred charges of disobedience against Burn- side, and ordered a court-martial for his trial. This course was disapproved by Gen. Grant, and, at Burnside's request, a court of inquiry was ordered, which eventually found him " answerable for the want of success." He always held that the failure was due to interference with his plan of assault, and before a congressional committee of investi- gation much testimony was adduced to show that this was really the case.
Gen. Burnside resigned from the army on 15 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 manageraent. 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 openitions before Paris. Visiting the Prussian headquarters at Versailles simply in a private capacity, he found himself called
