FREDERICKSBURG, BATTLE OF.) On January 26, 1863. he was replaced by Hooker. and from March to December he was in command of the Department of the Ohio, during which time he captured Cumberland Gap, marched into East Tennessee, and occupied Knoxville, where for some time he was besieged by the Confederate General Longstreet. On April 13 he issued his famous "General Order No. 38." directed against the 'Copperheads' in his department, and espe cially against Vallandigham, who was soon afterwards arrested, convicted, and imprisoned.
(See VAm...NoiGu AM, C LENIENT B, This order, together with his "General Order No. 84." which prohibited the circulation of the New York World and suppressed the Chicago Times, aroused the most violent opposition as striking at the free dom of speech and of the press. and President Lincoln yielded to the popular demand so far as to rescind that part of the latter order which suppressed the Times. From May to August, 1564, Burnside served under (:rant, as commaml er of the Ninth Corps in the Richmond Cain paign. taking part in all the important battles during that time, and having charge of the mine operations at Petersburg. For his conduct on this latter ()evasion, he was subsequently cen sured by a court of inquiry which, after a pro longed investigation, found him, along with sev eral other officers, 'answerable for the want of success.' ;Many military critics, however, have
since contended that Ilu•nside was not really at fault, and that the responsibility for the fiasco should be placed elsewhere. On April 15, 1865, Burnside resigned from the service, and subse quently was prominent as a projector and man ager of railroads. Ile was Governor of Rhode Island from 1866 to 1869, and from 1875 until his death was a member of the United States Senate. In 1870 he visited Europe, and during the siege of Paris acted as a medium of com munication between the French and Germans. As a soldier he rendered valuable services in the capacity of corps commander, but proved unable to cope with the problems and difficulties which fall to the lot of a commanding general. Con sult: Poore, Life and Public Services of Ambrose E. Burnside (Providence, 1882). and Woodbury, Major-Genera/ Burnside and the _Vi»th Army Corps (Providence, 1867).