Burnside

Rating:
Summary: Well Researched & Presented Military Biography
Review: Ambrose Burnside may not be many people's favourite Civil War Commander but in this 1991 biography, the author, William Marvel, presents Burnside in a light previously not seen before. The Federal general comes across as a man who cared deeply for his men and was honest in his dealings with other commanders and his subordinates. The author presents his case that Burnside's reputation was tarnished by other Federal commanders who wished to pass on the blame of their failures to this man who would not publicly air his dissent. Examples given are General McClellan at Antietam, General William Franklin at Fredericksburg and Meade at the Wilderness and Petersburg. The author presents his case well and you start to feel that maybe Burnside was given the short end of the stick in a lot of cases. Burnside appears to be a patriotic soldier who was prepared to give everything to the cause regardless of the cost to himself and his reputation. Marvel offers references & notes to support his theory and although he tends to offer Burnside the benefit of the doubt most of the time I still came away feeling that Burnside probarly did not deserve all the negative media he has received in history. Overall this is a well researched and presented biography and although you may not agree with the author it's still a very well told story and a treat to read.

Rating:
Summary: Honest Picture od Naive Burnsides: Great Ideas and Failures
Review: This is a true honest work of a General who had some excellent ideas but was often too naive with initiating action or from truly evaluating his staff. He was politically inept in being aware of the political cabal of McClellanites that undermined his command of the Army of the Potomac and contributed to his failings at Fredericksburg. Marvel does an excellent job demonstrating Burnsides successes at Roanoke Island with amphibious landings, perhaps the first in American war, and his occupation of coastal N.C. Marvel explains that Burnsides beat Lee to Fredericksburg but was held back by Halleck's failure to organize the pontoon train needed to cross the Rappahannock. The author's most interesting part of the book is his explanation of Burnsides' battle plan at Fredericksburg and his misunderstanding of the terrain features of Marye's Heights. In addition, one of the cabal generals commanding the left wing failed to execute his flanking movement properly yet communicated success causing Burnsides to unleash full scale attacks on Marye's Heights. Another fascinating piece centers on Burnsides' plan of the "crater", blowing up a confederate section of line and exploiting the breach with specially trained African American units. Unfortunately, the plan was severely hindered by Grant's and Meade's last minute disallowance of the black units to execute the plan resulting in untrained units commanded by an intoxicated officer. In between Burnsides does well keeping Longstreet out of Tennessee but inflames Sherman by providing Sherman a feast upon his arrival. Sherman misunderstood the meal as evidence that Burnsides' needed no relief. Burnsides is depicted as a very intelligent man that invented a breech loaded rifle but was politically naive particularly that even his alleged friend, McClellan undermined him for his own purpose without Burnsides being aware of it. Hard to defend Burnsides' limited action on McClellan's left flank at Antietam where any early action could have resulted in defeat of Lee. Regardless that McClellan didn't not ask Burnsides to attack earlier but any initiative by Burnsides would have made for a different outcome. Also, if Burnsides was aware or more personally involved with the crater attack, he should have recognized that the officer in charge of the attack was unfit and when the attack was misdirected, perhaps organized a better follow-up of troops although Meade aborted support. One of the last McCellan's generals of the Army of the Potomac to resign, only Warren lasted longer until his encounter withh Sheridan. The book leaves one thinking that if Burnsides had just a little of Sheridan in him and a little less of Burnsides, he would have been more successful. From a biography standpoint, Burnsides seems to havea lot in common with Confederate Genenral Ewell whose failures were also more pronounced than his victories.