Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1862-11-27
General Burnside. the New Commander
Of the Army of the Potomac.

| The long-expected and often rumored change
has at last been made General Burnside
commands the Army of the Potomac, the
| Grand Army of The war of 1861 and Gen.
| Mcclellan is ordered to report at Trenton
some say Trenton, New Jersey, for the pur-
pose of consulting with Lieutenant. 6 eneral
Scott. Major General Ambrose Eyeritt Burn
side, of the United States volunteer service,
is in the very prime of life, having been born
at Liberty, small town in Union county, In.
diana, on the 23d of May, 1924 After be.
ing well grounded in the usual rudiments of a
liberal education, be was nominated to the
West Point Military Academy, aud his name
was enrolled as cadet in 1872 He gradua
ted in l847. eighteenth in a class of thirty.
eight members, and was Immediately attached
to the Second Artillery with the hreVet rank
Of Second Lieutenant. 1t is fact worthy oil
note that none of the graduates of lS47 were
appointed either to the Engineers Corps oil
Typographical Engineers, or the Ordnance De
partmeut. Usually the first ten or twelve
graduates are assigned to these corps, but in
l847 twenty-three were appointed to artillery
and The rest to infantry regiments The re-
qnIrements of the service consequent upon the
war with Mexico, then raging, were no doubt
the cause of this
,, In September, l847, Lieut. Burnside was
promoted 10 full second Iieutenancy in Com.
pany c, Third Artillery. since rendered famous
as Bragg's Battery" Bragg himself being
then captain of it. With this battery, Lieut.
Burnside marched, in Gen Patterson's Divi
sion, to the City of Mexico, and remained
there until the close of the Mexican war AT.
tor &c ho III
Mexico, where he was distinguished ia encoun
ters with the Apache Indians, being compli
mented in general orders. On the l2lh of
December, 1851, he was promoted to a first
lieutenancy, in the room of an officer who was
cashiered. When the present Lieut. Colonel
James ID. Graham, of the Corps CT Topographic
cal Engineers, was appointed United States
Astronomer in the Joint commission to settle
the frontier lines of the United States aud
Mexico, Lieut.. Burnside was chosen to e II the
office of Qnartermaster, and in this capacity
he conveyed dispatches from Col Graham to
President Fillmore travelling twelve hundred
miles across the plains in seventeen days, with
an escort of only three men. After serving
a short time at Fort Adams, Newport Har
bor Lieut.. Burnside resigned in 1853
Alter his sgnation, he turned his atten
ton to the manufacture of breach loading
| rifle of his own invention, known as the " Born
side RiHe," project which resulted in con
siderable pecnnlary loss, owing, it is said, tC
the dOubledeang of the traiorouS Secretary
of War Floyd, who, after having promised
Burnside that his rife should be used by the
Government, gave the contract to another
inventor, with whom he shared the spoils-
General Burnside then sold his esabiishmen,
TO his brother-n law, who has supplied quite
IL number of the burnside rifles 10 the present
administration. Subsequently to this, lie was
with General Mcclellan, whom he has jns
superseded, connected with the Illinois Cen
tral Railroad, holding the position of PreSi
dent of the Land Office Department While
residing at Bristol, Rhode Island, he married
Miss Bishop, an es,mabe lady of Providence
and removed with her to Chicago, upon being
Appointed to the Illinois Central
He was also elected Major General of tht
Rhode Island Militia during his soiourn a
Bristol. Shortly after removing to Chicag.
he was elected Treasurer of the Central Rail
road, and thereupon removed to this city, from
which he was summoned on the outbreak 0
the Revolution, by Governor Sprague, TO as
sumo the ColOnelcy of the First Rhode IslanC
!. Volunteers, which it may be mentioned, e
passarat, was armed with the Burnside Ri
, tles." This regiment, as is well known, dit
good service in the first battle of Bull Run
lis Colonel acting as Brigadier General of tn
Second Brigade, the Second Division. A fte
: This he was appointed Brigader General o
Volunteers. his commission being dated g.
: August, 1861. Of the celebrated Burnsid
S Expedition to North Carolina, nothing nee
be said. Its results are well known, and wer
! even seen here, 10 the hundreds of Rebel pr
soners kept in captivity on Governors Islam
/ for many months, until sent to Columbus
t Ohio, to be exchanged. At the battle of Al
tictam, in September last, General Burnside
corps darmee performed highly importar
part. 1t took the main road to Sharpsburs
: on the left and encountered the most dete
! mined opposition in successfully executing /
# part of the general plan of the battle.
n General Burnside had to cross the brids
e over the Autietam Greek, and dislodge tt
e enemy, who were in strong force and p0sitiC
g on the opposite side Twice bis army mac
i. an attempt TO cross, and TWICE was i, repuse
d with heavy loss, but the third attack, led
y the General, in person. was successful, al
is the position was won, though at great 50
Is ri6ce of life. This was one of the most il
N portant acts in the great Antietam TRACED
TT 10 October last General Burnside was assig
er ed to the general charge of the defences
as Harpers Ferry, just recovered from the he
re els. after having been surrendered by Color
d, Miles. The Second aud Twelfth Army Cor
se were at the same time placed under his col
IN manfi On October %, when the Army