The West Point Boys - Ambrose Burnside

Ambrose Everett Burnside was born on May 23, 1824 in Liberty, Indiana. He was the fourth of nine children of Edghill and Pamela Brown Burnside. His father was a native of South Carolina and had been a slave owner who freed his slaves. Ambrose attended Liberty Seminary as a young boy, but his education was interrupted when his mother died in 1841 and he was apprenticed to a local tailor, later becoming a partner in the business. His interest in military affairs and his father's political connections obtained an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1843. He graduated in 1847, 18th in his class of 38, and was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Artillery. He performed garrison duty during the closing of the war with Mexico.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Burnside was a brigadier general in the Rhode Island Militia. He raised a regiment, the 1st Rhode Island Infantry, and was appointed colonel on May 2nd, 1861. Within a month, he ascended to brigade command in the Department of Northeast Virginia. He commanded the brigade during the First Battle of Bull Run in July of 1861, taking over division command temporarily for wounded Brigadier General David Hunter. After his regiment was mustered out of service, he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers, and was assigned to train provisional brigades in the Army of the Potomac.