Burnside - anything good?

[rpkennedy]

Is there any info on his success(?) as a brigade commander at FBR? His one and only battle at that level.

The brigade did fairly well in the initial confrontation against Evans and then against Bee and Bartow before being relieved by a couple other brigades.

Ryan

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

Is there any info on his success(?) as a brigade commander at FBR? His one and only battle at that level.

From what I recall, his performance at First Bull Run was respectable. Burnside might have benefited from a few more battles at brigade level before being advanced to division if time had permitted.

 

[Mint Julep]

The Burnside carbine seemed pretty good.

 

[7thWisconsin]

he was goodcomad erforepxption orfro holdignfortsagdinconfertage chage wheo petuoincagoarmy was a msiek simislto puttignJohnBellHood inarmy cooamdwa msitake

I'm glad to read this response, as are we all. First of all, it is authentic technological gibberish and secondly, it gets to the heart of the matter succinctly and incisively. Bravo.

 

[J. Stanley]

Is there any info on his success(?) as a brigade commander at FBR? His one and only battle at that level.

Burnside did alright - nothing great, nothing terrible.

His brigade was the first to fight on Matthews Hill and stood its ground well. Burnside did have the usual troubles of deploying his large regiments into a line of battle, moving regiments piecemeal, but everyone struggled with this. He did act a bit panicky when he called on Andrew Porter for Skyes' Regular Battalion but the deployment of Skyes' Regulars did have good effect.

After the fight on Matthews Hill, there seems to be a lot of controversy over what Burnside exactly did. Burnside seemed to have pulled his brigade out of the fight, resting his brigade and gathering ammunition. The 2nd New Hampshire was the only regiment of Burnside's brigade to go back into action at General Heintzelman's request. Burnside has been criticized for not sending his brigade up into action by a number of historians.

That said, he did apparently rescue the 2nd New Hampshire, which had been left behind and a little uncertain about where to go when the retreat began. Burnside then claimed credit as the army's rearguard... and so did several other generals. It's hard to ascertain as to how truthful Burnside is, but historians have generally seemed to ignore Burnside's contribution if true.

 

[TnFed]

He certainly out maneuvered Gen. John W. Frazer at the Cumberland Gap. Capturing a force of about 2300 men. A distant relative of mine Lt. Colonel William N. Garrett of the 64th North Carolina surrendered his regiment there. As the Confederates were well dug in, family legend is that Garrett cried and swore in rage.

 

[ColonelBuckwalter]

The Burnside carbine seemed pretty good.

if you believe in luck, he had none at all. Fiancee left him standing at the alter. US government. didn't buy his carbine, right away. He was high up in a railroad that failed. Couldn't catch a break.

As to his military shortcomings, he made his own luck, in many cases. And was under qualified in others.

 

[Stryker65]

if you believe in luck, he had none at all. Fiancee left him standing at the alter. US government. didn't buy his carbine, right away. He was high up in a railroad that failed. Couldn't catch a break.

He was also, I believe, at Ford's Theatert when Lincoln was shot.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

if you believe in luck, he had none at all. Fiancee left him standing at the alter. US government. didn't buy his carbine, right away. He was high up in a railroad that failed. Couldn't catch a break.

As to his military shortcomings, he made his own luck, in many cases. And was under qualified in others.

My only quibble would be that the day his first fiancée left him standing at the altar was one of the luckiest days of his life. If I recall correctly, Charlotte "Lottie" Moon was a spy for the Confederacy and later, while serving as a nurse to wounded Confederate soldiers, became engaged to well over a dozen of them so they could, in her words, "die happy." Burnside ended up later marrying a lovely lady who loved him back and they had a pleasant life together.

 

[TnFed]

My only quibble would be that the day his first fiancée left him standing at the altar was one of the luckiest days of his life. If I recall correctly, Charlotte "Lottie" Moon was a spy for the Confederacy and later, while serving as a nurse to wounded Confederate soldiers, became engaged to well over a dozen of them so they could, in her words, "die happy." Burnside ended up later marrying a lovely lady who loved him back and they had a pleasant life together.

Lottie got lucky also when Burnside caught her as a spy. Let her go scott free. I think the lady underestimated the character of the man.

 

[ColonelBuckwalter]

My only quibble would be that the day his first fiancée left him standing at the altar was one of the luckiest days of his life. If I recall correctly, Charlotte "Lottie" Moon was a spy for the Confederacy and later, while serving as a nurse to wounded Confederate soldiers, became engaged to well over a dozen of them so they could, in her words, "die happy." Burnside ended up later marrying a lovely lady who loved him back and they had a pleasant life together.

I'll have to change that. "At the time..."

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

I'll have to change that. "At the time..."

I'm guessing we all, who are old enough to look back, have incidents in our life that we thought were disasters at the time that turned out to be blessings.