A

AMBROSE EVERETT BURNSIDE.

MBROSE EVERETT BURNSIDE was born at Liberty, Union county, Indiana, on the 23d day of May, 1824, and was, consequently, in the full prime of his early manhood when the War for the Union commenced. He is of the old blood that flowed in the veins of heroes at Bannockburn and Flodden Field, and which, in many a hotly-contested battle, has proved the Scotch to be among the best soldiers in the world.

His grand-parents were born in Scotland, but, removing to America near the close of the last century, settled in South Carolina. Here General Burnside's father was born, educated, and married. Following the profession of law, he acquired an eminent position, and enjoyed a profitable practice. After the war of 1812, the great fields of the West attracted the attention of the citizens of the old states. Mr. Burnside early felt the influence, and in the year 1821 he removed with his family to Liberty. We find him honorably and creditably filling the office of clerk, and afterward of judge of the circuit court, in his new home.

The son, AMBROSE, was carefully nurtured, and received his elementary education in the best schools of the neighborhood. He was admitted to the military academy at West Point in his eighteenth year, and was graduated in 1847, in the artillery, the fifteenth in rank, in a class numbering forty-seven members. In the following year he received a full second-lieutenancy, and was attached to the third regiment of artillery. During his stay at West Point, the war with Mexico commenced; and immediately upon his graduation, he proceeded to the scene of action. On his arrival at Vera Cruz, Lieutenant Burnside was put in command of an escort to a baggage-train, and sent into the interior. Although the route was in the nominal possession of the United States troops, the Mexicans, by a guerilla warfare, which they continually carried on, had succeeded in cutting off or disabling several trains that had previously been sent.

The duty was hazardous, and the post responsible; but the young lieutenant carried his small command through without injury, and manifested so much fidelity and skill as to win the commendation of his superior officers. Before the column to which Lieutenant Burnside joined himself could reach the capital, the battles in front of the city of Mexico had been fought, and the war was virtually finished. He was thus deprived of the opportunity which he desired of participating, to any great extent, in the active operations of the armies in the

field. When peace was proclaimed, he was ordered to Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island, and was employed at that post until the spring of 1849. His natural refinement of manner, his urbane deportment, and his frank and manly bearing, gained him many friends, and here he laid the foundation of that remarkable esteem with which he is regarded in the state of Rhode Island.

In the year 1849, he was transferred from the agreeable duty of the post at Fort Adams, and ordered to New Mexico, to join Bragg's famous battery, of which he was now appointed first-lieutenant. It was found that the country was not favorable for the operations of light artillery. Bragg's command was reorganized as cavalry, and Lieutenant Burnside was put in charge of a company. The service was very exciting and perilous, but our lieutenant acquitted himself with such coolness and bravery as to receive warm encomium for his conduct. He reached New Mexico on the 1st of August, and immediately went into the field. On the 21st of that month, while scouring the country near Los Vegas, with a force of twenty-nine men, he saw a company of Indians, sixty or seventy-five strong, drawn up at the head of a ravine, prepared to dispute his progress. He immediately determined to attack them; and, after a single discharge of their rifles, his men, led by their gallant commander, charged with sabres, and swept the Apaches like chaff before them. In this brief and brilliant engagement, eighteen Indians were killed, nine were taken prisoners, forty horses were captured, and the whole band was effectually dispersed. The commander of the post, Captain Judd, complimented Burnside, in dispatches, in the highest terms, and recommended him for promotion.

In the winter of 1850-'51, we find Lieutenant Burnside acceptably filling the office of quartermaster of the boundary commission, then occupied in running the line between the United States and Mexico, as established by the treaty of peace negotiated by the two nations. In September, 1851, he was ordered across the plains of the Far West, as bearer of dispatches to the government. It was a duty requiring the utmost vigilance, prudence, and persistence. It was necessary that the dispatches which he bore should reach Washington at the earliest possible moment. With an escort of three men-one of whom was his faithful negro-servant, who has followed his fortunes for several years with singular devotion-he started on his difficult enterprise. Twelve hundred miles of wilderness, occupied by hostile Indians and wild beasts, lay between him and civilization. He accomplished the distance in seventeen days, meeting with many adventures and hair-breadth escapes upon the way. At one time a party of Indians was upon his trail for more than twenty-four hours, and he only escaped by taking advantage of the darkness of the night to double upon his pursuers. He fully accomplished the object of his mission, and received the thanks of the war department for his efficiency and success.

During his service in New Mexico, he had found that the carbine with which the troops were armed was a wholly inadequate weapon for the peculiar warfare of the plains. While upon his journey to Washington, he occupied his mind with an attempt to supply the defect. The result of his reflection and study was the invention of the new breech-loading rifle, which bears the name of its inventor, and seems a perfect weapon. Lieutenant Burnside was desirous that his own country should receive the benefit of his labors, and he offered to contract with the government for the manufacture of the arm. Pending negotiation, he returned to his former post at Newport. While here, on the 27th of April, 1852, he was married to Miss Mary Bishop, of Providence, a lady of great force of character and of most amiable disposition.

The expectation of a contract for the manufacture of the newly-invented rifle, and his marriage, decided Lieutenant Burnside to leave the service, and he resigned his commission. Removing to Bristol, he built a manufactory, and made all necessary arrangements for completing his business negotiations with the government. Unfortunately for him, the contract was not consummated; and, after three or four years of struggle and loss, Mr. Burnside became so deeply involved and embarrassed as to prevent any further progress in his adopted occupation. He was still more embarrassed by the action of John B. Floyd, who became secretary of war in 1857, and found himself compelled to withdraw entirely from the manufacture of arms. With characteristic high-mindedness, he gave up every thing which he possessed, including his patent, to his creditors; and, selling even his uniform and sword, sought to retrieve his fortunes at the West. He went to Chicago, April 27th, 1858, and obtained a situation as cashier in the land department of the Illinois Central Railroad. His old friend and schoolfellow, Captain George B. McClellan, occupied an honorable position in the same railroad company, and the two soldiers once more made their quarters together. Burnside, limiting his expenses to a certain amount, devoted the remainder of his salary to the payment of his debts; and when afterward he was enabled to free himself entirely from the claims of his creditors, his unblemished integrity in business was as conspicuous as his former gallantry in the field. In June, 1860, he was promoted to the office of treasurer of the railroad company.

The intelligence of the bombardment of Fort Sumter, and the proclamation of the President of the United States, awakened Mr. Burnside's patriotism, and he felt once more impelled to take the field. His country had given him his education, and he felt that to his country his life and services were due. His residence in Rhode Island had endeared him to the people of that gallant state, and he had already held the highest command of the state militia. When the first regiment of Rhode Island troops was offered to the secretary of war by the governor of that state, it was to him that all eyes turned for the command. He