A Biography By: G. A. Mierka
RI MOLLUS - RI SUVCW

      In the weeks and months that followed the July 1861, disaster at the First Battle of Bull Run, Ambrose E. Burnside became a rising star in the Union Army.    His old and closest friend George B. McClellan had been put in charge of the entire Union Army, replacing the aged Major General Winfield Scott as General in Chief or General of the Army.    McClellan or 'Little Mac' had become the toast of Washington.    The newspapers compared McClellan to Napoleon.    McClellan backed Burnside's promotion to the rank of Major General in Congress and put Burnside in command of the U.S. Army 9th Corps, of the Army of the Potomac.    As plans for a new invasion of Virginia took shape, McClellan entrusted his old friend Burnside to take his 9th Corps as an expeditionary force by ship south from Maryland to attack the coast of North Carolina, as a diversion from McClellan's anticipated Virginia, James River, 'Peninsula Campaign'.

      On January 11, 1862, The Burnside Expedition set sail from Hampton Roads, southeastern Virginia, then to Cape Hatteras, Hatteras Inlet and Roanoke Island, North Carolina; on the northeastern coast of that State.    As the fleet carrying Burnside's forces approached its destination it encountered a terrible storm, which is typical for that time of year.    The gale widely scattered Burnside's fleet off the Carolina Coast, costing him valuable time to get his force reorganized for what would become the first major amphibious landing of the Civil War.    By January 28th all his men had weathered the storm and safely passed through the Hatteras Inlet coastal barrier (an island chain) and in to the North Carolina Sounds.    Then on February 7th Admiral Louis Goldsborough's U.S. Naval fleet of war sloops and gun boats attacked Confederate Forts on Roanoke Island.    Burnside seized the moment and landed 3 Divisions of the 9th Corps under Generals Jesse Reno, John G. Parke and John G. Foster, 2 miles down the coast from the Confederate forts to begin a land assault.    Confederate forces put up a strong fight, but a bayonet charge by Col. Hawkins New York Zouaves turned the Rebel left flank and shortly thereafter the forts fell to the Union.    Fort Barstow held out the longest, but it too suffered the same fate as all other Rebel shore batteries and fortifications on the island.    Two thousand Confederates under General Thomas F. Drayton surrendered after a failed attempt to escape Burnside's forces to Nag's Head across the Sound.

      NOTE: Contrary to what many historians have said and written about Burnside, he was not an eccentric, pompous or flamboyant man.    He was a sharp military tactician, extremely concerned about the welfare of his men, and they admired him for that.    He was one of the most photographed celebrities of his time; very popular with photographers.    He believed the uniforms of his men should be as comfortable in the field as possible, hence his Burnside fatigue uniform designs.    Most of the time he did not wear a General's insignia or shoulder boards on his frock coats in the field, because he didn't think it necessary.    His men recognized him from a distance while on the march, in camp and in battle not so much because of his whiskers, but because of the way he wore his hat.    Most of his officers liked his good nature and loved getting their picture taken with him.

      After the failure of Major General George B. McClellan's James River Peninsula Campaign in southern Virginia, the War Department became concerned the Confederates were moving north from Richmond possibly to strike a blow near Washington.    McClellan had lost the initiative during the Peninsula Campaign.    His elaborate plan ended with his discouraging retreat to Harrison's Landing where he rested the Army of the Potomac under the safety of a powerful flotilla of Union gunboats and heavy artillery which the new Rebel Commanding General Robert E. Lee was powerless to assault.    Burnside was immediately ordered to set up garrison defenses in the territories he captured on the North Carolina Coast and return to Washington D.C.    Stonewall Jackson had moved a large Rebel force farther north in to northern Virginia after the Battle of Cedar Mountain.    The Confederates were seizing the initiative in an attempt to draw McClellan’s battered but not defeated forces away from Richmond.

      NOTE: Upon the election of Abraham Lincoln, (then) Captain John Pope commanded the President-Elect military escort from Illinois to Washington D.C. for the inauguration, under the direction of Winfield Scott, Ward Hill Lamon and Alan Pinkerton.    Just prior to the 2nd Bull Run disaster, Lincoln said, referring to Pope (also from Kentucky & Illinois), that he knew several of the Pope Family back home, but thought most of those he met weren’t all that honest....
Pending a military inquiry, Pope was relieved on September 7, 1862, and sent west to command the Department of the Northeast (in Minnesota).    He was in command during the Sioux Uprising the following year, however when it was over Lincoln had to intercede to deeply scale back the amount of Sioux Warriors Pope planned to hang.
Blinded by his obsession to defeat Stonewall Jackson at 2nd Bull Run, Pope ordered Porter and his 5th Corps to make an all out attack on Jackson's right flank, just as Longstreet was about to launch his fatal blow on Pope with about half of Lee's army.    Instead of carrying out the suicidal order, Porter withdrew to a place whereby his troops actually saved Pope's army from a far greater disaster.    After the battle, Pope accused Porter of disloyalty and disobedience.    Porter was relieved, arrested and tried after Antietam by the War Department.    The Military Court found Porter guilty of all charges months after Burnside resigned.    Burnside tried to speak on behalf of his friend, who was still too much of a McClellan Man for Secretary of War Stanton, so Porter paid the price for that when McClelland himself was relieved in late fall of 62.
Pope retired from the service still in command of the Northern Military Department in 1886, the same year Fitz Porter was finally cleared of the charges against him brought by Pope over the 2nd Bull Run disaster.    Joseph Hooker, himself a McClellan Man, did nothing to try to save Porter.    Burnside believed his West Point friend, Fitz Porter, was a very good General, even though Porter spoke against him in favor of McClellan several times.    This was the first obvious indication why men like Edwin Stanton, Henry Halleck, John Bartlett, Montgomery Meigs, Daniel Ballou, Edwin Sumner, Augustus Woodbury and even the President, felt Burnside needed to realize soldiers like himself must understand the high command of the American Military is often driven as much by politics as it is by great warriors, and sometimes old friends and comrades are not what they appear.

      The second disaster at Bull Run and the march to find and stop Lee, had a devastating effect on Burnside and the 9th Corps.    Burnside's gallant and reliable officers, Isaac Stevens was killed during the operations of the 2nd Bull Run/Chantilly Campaign and Jesse Reno was lost during the pursuit of Lee in Maryland at the Battle of Turner's Gap.    Afterwards, command of Jesse Reno's Division was assumed by General Samuel Sturgis and Isaac Stevens Division was assumed by General Orlando B. Willcox.    Sturgis would prove himself to be unreliable and argumentative towards Burnside, and Willcox would become totally frustrated with McClellan's treatment of Burnside and failure to understand critical situations.    In fact, the hard drinking Sturgis would prove to be completely insubordinate and at times even openly hostile to his 9th Corps Commanding Officer, General Burnside.    Worst yet for Burnside, his old friend McClellan now viewed Burnside as a threat to his renewed position as top commander.    In Little Mac's eyes, Burnside's equal rank and favor with Lincoln put a bit of a damper on McClellan’s ego and his perception of authority.

      NOTE: At the Battle of Turner’s Gap, during McClellan's pursuit of Lee in Maryland, Brigadier General Rutherford B. Hayes, commanding a brigade of the Kanawah Division roused the fighting spirit of his men shouting, "Give em hell boys"!    As the 1st Brigade, 1st Division of Hooker's 1st Corps, came up to reinforce the Kanawah Division followed by Willcox's Division of Burnside's 9th Corps, McClellan, Burnside and Hooker watched the 1st or 'Black Hat' brigade go in to action and fiercely attack the Rebels trying to block passage through Turner's Gap.    The fighting at Turner's Gap was desperate and vicious.    At one point McClellan remarked, "Those men fight like they are made of iron".    From then on Solomon Meredith's Brigade became known as the 'Iron Brigade'.    After the war McClellan accused Burnside of being slow to get his men in to battle.    One of the most important roads through the South Mountains went through Turner's Gap.    Jacob Cox, commander of the Kanawah Division defended Burnside's actions, saying Burnside did all he could to get O.B. Willcox's Division of the 9th Corps up in good fashion to support Meredith, Hayes and Cox sweep the enemy from the field and secure Turner's Gap, opening the main road to Sharpsburg.

      To reach Sharpsburg, Maryland, and attack Robert E. Lee's thinly stretched Rebel Army before Lee could concentrate his forces, McClellan had to rapidly march his Union Army north and west from the town of Frederick then get his troops through the South Mountains.    Burnside, Lincoln and the War Department urged a rapid move against the invading Confederates.    At first McClellan did move quickly, but soon fell in to his old pattern of being overly cautious and over estimating the strength of the enemy.    McClellan actually outnumbered Lee about two to one.    To meet the threat Lee fanned out his eyes and ears, the cavalry forces under Jeb Stuart along the South Mountains to guard the passages and approaches to Sharpsburg.    The most direct route to Sharpsburg, where Lee was concentrating his forces ran through a place called Turner's Gap.    Stuart deployed a brigade of Rebel cavalry under General Wade Hampton at Turner's Gap to watch and wait for McClellan's approach.    The lead column of Union forces on the march straight in their direction were the Kanawah Division, formerly of the Union Army forces that guarded the Kanawah Valley of western Virginia, commanded by Major General Jacob D. Cox, then part of Major General Joseph Hooker's 1st Corps followed by Burnside and the 9th Corps.    As Union forces closed in on Turner's Gap, Hampton informed Lee.    To delay McClellan and get more time, Lee sent Rebel General Daniel H. Hill's Rebel Division to reinforce Hampton.    The Rebels did the best they could in the fight for Turner's Gap but couldn't hold.    However, the delayed action allowed Lee the time he needed to concentrate most of his forces under Jackson and Longstreet at Sharpsburg just west of Antietam Creek.    After the nasty fighting at Turner's Gap, McClellan's Union forces poured through Turner's Gap and through other locations in the South Mountains down in to the lower elevations east of the Antietam and prepared for the long awaited showdown brawl with Lee.