CHAPTER XLIII.

CONCLUDING ESTIMATE OF GENERAL BURNSIDE'S MILITARY CAREER, LEGISLATIVE ABILITY, PUBLIC SPEECHES, AND PRIVATE LIFE.

I'

T has been a difficult task to comprise within limited bounds the story of General Burnside's eventful life.

An industrious mechanic, a gallant soldier, a wise governor, and a useful Senator, he was a glorious type of a citizen of the United States. Endowed by nature with a gracious presence, an indomitable will, great tenacity of purpose, and an indefatigable industry, he was always ready to perform any assigned duty.

His military career has been severely criticised, but a close examination of it will show that, when not obstructed by others, and when cordially supported by his subordinates, he was entitled to rank with the great generals of the war for the suppression of the Rebellion. Had he found, on his arrival at Fredericksburg, the pontoons which had been promised him, and had he received a loyal support when he moved on the enemy's works there, he would have redeemed the Army of the Potomac from the reputation for inaction which it had received; in his North

Carolina campaign, organized and carried on without interference from Washington, he displayed great energy and good generalship; his occupation of East Tennessee, culminating in his gallant defense of Knoxville against the dashing attacks of Longstreet's corps, displayed remarkable intrepidity, intelligence, and military skill; the advance of his command up the slope of South Mountain, fighting as they went, was unquestionably one of the most brilliant events of the war; had he been permitted to direct the assault at Petersburg, after the explosion of the mine, there is the high opinion of General Grant that "it would have been a success." But, above all, with a courage higher than that of battle, he assumed responsibilities which belonged to others, and he displayed a soldierly subordination, and an absence of selfish ambition, by serving, without murmuring, under a commander whom he ranked.

As a legislator, General Burnside exercised a greater influence on the work of the Senate, through his earnest`ness, integrity, and good sense, than many others whose remarks occupy a far greater space than his in the Congressional Record. When he spoke, he went, as was said of Wellington in the British House of Peers, straight at his mark, and never missed a bull's-eye. His oratory was, indeed, deficient in the higher flights of rhetoric, but it accurately reflected the practical character of his mind, and if some of his sentences were rough hewn from the block of his common sense, his auditors forgot their unpolished aspect in their deep sense of the value of the quarry. When forced into a debate by any of the numerous lawyers in the Senate Chamber, a Spartan defending himself and his country against Athenian orators could not have developed a more strongly-marked idiosyncrasy

or a more signal difference of culture, thought, and language. Mistaken at first "for a blunt soldier, and no more," it was not supposed that he could sustain himself against those "learned in the law "arrayed against him, but in those displays of dialectics which occupy so many pages of congressional debate, the results belie these expectations. The general (like another great soldier of old), settled the affair by cutting the knot, and carried the day against the most refined oratorical art, and the most inquisitive of cross-examinations, by simply saying his say and meaning what he said.

In his speeches before public assemblages, many specimens of which are given in the preceding pages, his thoughts took the shape of axioms, maxims, ascertained principles, and fixed conclusions. The utter absence of all oratorical display or desire for exhibition lent an additional force to what he said. His thorough personal identity with the people was his chief source of success. There was a vigorousness common to both thoughts and words, with an abruptness and positiveness, which was admired as "pluck," yet he was no master in the arts of the cunning demagogue. As a servant of the State of Rhode Island, in peace or in war, the meed of his ambition was full; and her praise or her blame stirred his heart more than the opinion of all the world beside.

It is difficult to speak of the private life of one who had so entirely become public property, but he had a domestic character wholly distinct from that which he externally presented to the world. As a soldier, and as a statesman, no other American was so well known, and he received and responded to the admiration and even the curiosity of the public, with great good nature. Whenever he passed through a crowd his path might be traced by the turned

faces and gazing eyes of men, women, and children. The wealthy and the poor- the highest class of society and the lowest-made public obeisance to him as he passed, while occasionally a veteran who had served under him. would step up to grasp his hand. Courtly in his manners, scrupulously neat in his attire, and somewhat punctilious in matters of etiquette, he was a favorite in what is known as "society," but the mechanics and farmers of his neighborhood found him cordial, friendly, and at times jocular in his intercourse with them. Always fond of children, the “little people” paid him an involuntary tribute by being fond of him. He was the very soul of grace, of gentleness, and of hope; and kindness was the means to his ends. His consideration for other people — the proudest and the humblest- was courteous and charitable, with an excuse for every fault, and forgiveness for almost every wrong. No sacrifice of time, labor, thought, money, or responsibility seemed too great when he could make it in promoting the happiness of others.

"Twin column of the State,

In fight Achilles, Nestor in debate,

Whose mind was virtue's poise, whom no success
Might dazzle, no adversity depress,

No bribe allure, no artifice betray,

No labor tire, when duty showed the way,

No danger daunt and no renown elate;

His fate soared high, his soul outsoared his fate.

A youth as fresh as his first laurels were

He gave his country; and his silver hair

Honored the brows of service, brows that caught
Thro' near an age no shade of selfish thought:
The earliest beam that on his pathway crossed
Beheld him where night found him,- - at his post.

Death but promotes him; all that could decline

Of his most honored being was its dust;

He never dies who holds his life a trust."

General Burnside's name and fame will live while the recollection of the great historic events in which he was so prominent an actor remain. The country cannot forget him, and the people whom he so devotedly served will cherish the memory of his labors in their behalf while life shall last. Gallant Soldier! Honored Patriot! True Statesman! Generous Friend! Farewell!