byDave Kopel, Paul Gallant and Joanne Eisen Brady National Photographic Art Gallery (Washington, D.C.) D.C.) GalleryArt (Washington, Photographic National Brady

He was thrice elected governor kindliness and compassion. His willingness to break the law and to of , and afterwards twice biographer, Benjamin Perley Poore, fight when absolutely necessary. chosen to serve in the United States wrote: “Kindness was the means to By the time the Quakers of Senate. He was one of the few in his all his ends—and to every one, on Burnside’s youth were enlisting in the time to consider the black man the every suitable occasion, he , Burnside had already equal of the white man, and to favor preached kindness.” invented one of the guns that would equal opportunity for all. He was a To m a ny of t he I nd i a n a Q u a ker s help the Union win the war. clever inventor who developed a fine and their neighbors, freeing the slaves military . He had a most seemed to be the kindest thing a The Inventor | As a teenager, spectacular set of whiskers, the person could do. Near Burnside’s Burnside apprenticed for a tailor. nickname for which remains a home lay Fountain City, home of the However, at age 19,his hopes were staple of today’s tonsorial lexicon. Quaker Levi Coffin. The home was realized when he was offered If you like to wear “sideburns,” known as the “Grand Central Station appointment to West Point. After then you owe a small debt to General of the .” graduating in the class of 1847, , who popularized As workers on the Underground Lieutenant Burnside accepted a wearing whiskers without a beard. If Railroad, the Quakers and their commission in the u.s. in you love civil rights, then you owe a abolitionist friends violated federal Mexico—just as the war was ending. great debt to Burnside, for he was a and state laws, and conspired with He was then stationed in New founder and the first president of the armed groups. While the Quakers did Mexico, and in 1849 served in a war largest civil rights organization in the not typically carry arms, conductors with the Apache Indians. Burnside world: the National Rifle Association. on the Underground Railroad and the u.s. forces prevailed, and the certainly did. Apaches signed a peace treaty in 1851. The Kindness of Friends | When the Civil War came, the During the Apache war, Lt. Burnside Ambrose Everett Burnside was born Philadelphia Quakers generally chose was wounded by an arrow in his neck. on , 1824, in Liberty, Ind. The not to fight. But according to He recognized a serious disadvantage east-central Indiana of Burnside’s Gov. Oliver P. Morton, Quakers in his that u.s.soldiers faced against the youth was a well-established Quaker state enlisted at a higher proportional Indians. At close range, the u.s.cavalry stronghold. rate than any other denomination. was very effective with its sabers. At Although Burnside was not a So the community that nurtured longer range, Indians with bows could member of the Society of Friends, the young Ambrose Burnside shared a produce a much more rapid rate of fire he was deeply influenced by Quakers special dedication to kindness, and than could u.s.cavalry carrying and became a man known for his therefore to civil rights—and thus a muzzle-loading . The Colt

st st 44 Ame r ic a’s 1 Freed om | October 2004 America’s 1 Freedom | September 2004 43 six-shooter revolver would eventually earned reputation for bravery, military Confederate forces, now low on Fredericksburg, of several dozens of Burnside had been extensively division might then sweep forward prove a very potent weapon in the ability and administrative talents of a and depleted by the clumsy wooden scows with which drilling his “colored” troops to take the into Petersburg itself. It was a bold hands of u.s.cavalry,but it had not yet high order … .” casualties, began to withdraw. the army built its pontoon bridges.” lead upon the detonation of the gambit, but the tactics were sound. been widely adopted. However, as a Union general, Burnside finally succeeded in taking However, the pontoons arrived explosives. The plan was that, The only problem was that Burnside So in October 1853,Burnside Burnside never rose to the outstanding the bridge, but his remaining troops— eight days late. following the explosion, these troops had committed himself to a plan resigned his commission from the level of Ulysses Grant, also suffering casualties, exhausted and While Burnside waited for the would forge ahead to the left and the without the approval of his superiors.” army and, with borrowed money, Hancock or —to low on ammunition—were unable to pontoons to arrive, Gen. Lee exploited right of the resulting crater to capture At the last moment, General Meade, established the Bristol Rifle Works in name three generals who later advance. If Burnside’s troops had not the delay to position his 78,000-man the high ground behind the who was known to be prejudiced Bristol, r.i.He aimed to create a succeeded Burnside as presidents of been expended so unwisely in the Army of Northern Virginia on high Confederate lines. against blacks, insisted that the charge lightweight, faster, durable breech­ the National Rifle Association. assault at the bridge, they might have ground around Fredericksburg. It was Burnside who, earlier, had be led by white troops. Meade told loading . Burnside’s carbine Burnside was a deliberate, methodical been able to win the day decisively, and Burnside should have known that he asked the secretary of war to organize Burnside: “I cannot approve of your was patented on March 25, 1856.In the thinker. Because he could spend several to destroy General Robert E. Lee’s could not now succeed in dislodging a new division of black troops, for placing the negro troops in advance, as summer of 1857,a board of military years slowly refining and perfecting his army before it could retreat. Lee’s troops, but he did not alter his which he received permission. The proposed in your project…[b]ecause officers at West Point evaluated several carbine, he invented a great gun. In Antietam was the single bloodiest battle plan. The five-day battle of Providence Journal would later note I do not think they should be called new carbines and unanimously agreed contrast, during wartime, as battle day in American military history. It Fredericksburg, Dec. 11-15, 1862, about Burnside: “One of the first of the upon to do as important a work as that Burnside’s was the best suited for conditions rapidly deviated from what was a Union victory, for Lee’s advance resulted in terrible Union losses. regular army officers to approve that which you propose to do, military service. had been anticipated, Burnside could into Maryland was repulsed. Burnside withdrew, defeated. heartily of Mr. Lincoln’s emancipation certainly not called upon to lead.” Five weeks later, with Lee still policy, he was also one of the first to In testimony given in the aftermath entrenched at Fredericksburg, favor the arming of black troops, and of the resulting fiasco, Gen. Grant Burnside—following Lincoln’s one of the most successful in training would explain: “General Burnside Today, bigots such as Michael Moore spread lies attempting to link the National orders—attempted to move his army them for action.” wanted to put his colored division in to a more advantageous position. A Although ready for battle, the black front, and I believe if he had done so it nra s Rifle Association with the . » The ’ Articles of Incorporation torrent of rain turned the roads to mud, troops in the Union army were would have been a success … .” were notable for what they did not contain: exclusionary clauses. » In the very rendering them impassible. But Burnside underutilized, relegated to the role of Burnside reluctantly acquiesced d.c. 1930 1940 nra would not disobey Lincoln’s orders. laborers or guards. At Petersburg, because Gen. Grant sided with Meade. segregated Washington, ,for the s and s,the club would be the The wagons carrying pontoon Burnside had determined that these At the last minute, Burnside, by the only integrated place where a young black man could go and feel fully welcome. bridges and artillery pieces sank black troops, under Gen. Edward drawing of lots, chose Gen. James immobilized into the mud. Burnside’s Ferrero, would be the ideal choice to Ledlie’s division to lead the assault. “Mud March” had to be abandoned. On lead the charge after the explosion. However, Ledlie became inebriated, as Jan. 25, 1863, Burnside was relieved of his A victory at Petersburg could have should have been expected from his Despite the favorable review, not quickly improvise or adapt his Nevertheless, Antietam was the last command of the Army of the Potomac smashed Lee’s Army of Northern past behavior. Without effective Burnside’s company went bankrupt carefully devised battle plans. straw for President Lincoln, who for and placed by Lincoln in command of Virginia. The road to Richmond leadership, Ledlie’s men charged from a combination of factors: And more than once he had to months had been exasperated with the . would have lain wide open, and the directly into the crater instead of insufficiency of orders for the gun carry out impossible orders. For McClellan’s torpor and repeated refusal war would have ended in 1864,with flanking it, with disastrous results. The (the antebellum u.s.cavalry was tiny), example, at the to press forward. On Nov. 8, 1862, | Many black troops winning the decisive Confederates regrouped and picked poor finances and the — (Sept. 17, 1862), Union commander Lincoln replaced Gen. McClellan as historians point to the siege of engagement of the battle that off Ledlie’s men as if they were targets a depression which began in August George McClellan ordered Burnside to commander of the Army of the Potomac Petersburg, and the July 30, 1864, decided the war. in a shooting gallery. The black troops, of that year. cross , over what is with a reluctant Ambrose Burnside. Battle of the Crater as low points in Burnside knew that both officers sent in last as the defeat progressed, The was to now known as Burnside’s Bridge. Burnside knew he was expected to Burnside’s military career. and men of the “colored” division were also suffered serious losses. become known as among the best of Burnside realized that the attack was act immediately, and he ordered his In April 1864,Burnside was placed extremely confident in their ability to Had Meade and Grant backed up all cavalry carbines used during the suicidal, but he followed orders that 115,000-man army to begin a winter under Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who was succeed in their mission at the mine. Burnside’s plan, the Civil War might Civil War, and some 55,000were used never should have been issued. A small offensive aimed at the Confederate now commanding the Army of the Col. Henry G. Thomas, commander have ended in the summer of 1864, during the conflict. But by that time, force of Georgian troops mowed down capitol of Richmond. But first, they Potomac. Grant moved the Union of Ferrero’s 2nd Brigade, recalled, instead of the spring of 1865.Many the factory Burnside had founded was Union troops as they advanced toward had to cross the Army to Petersburg, the second- “Both officers and men were eager to thousands of lives could have been no longer his. Burnside’s rifle was used the bottleneck created by the bridge. at Fredericksburg. largest city in Virginia, and a major show the white troops what the saved. And perhaps if the Battle of the by the u.s. Army from 1861-1876. Earlier, Burnside had wisely sent As historian (Army of Confederate industrial center. A colored division could do.” Crater and the had some troops north and south along the Potomac: Glory Road) noted: lengthy siege began on June 15, 1864. John Cannan, who authored a been won by a vanguard of “colored” Civil War | When the Civil War Antietam Creek in search of a safe “[I]t was not at all a bad program In order to break the stalemate at detailed analysis of the Battle of the troops, more Americans in the post­ broke out, Rhode Island Gov. William place to ford. However, because of the which Burnside had mapped out. Its Petersburg, Burnside ordered a tunnel Crater (The Crater, 2002), war era would have treated people of Sprague delegated the task of leading a difficult terrain, the men were delayed execution, however, depended on the to be dug beneath Confederate commented: color with the same respect that state regiment to Burnside, for he had, in fording the creek and in rejoining immediate appearance, on the Yankee fortifications, which was then loaded “Once Burnside’s entire force was in Ambrose Burnside did. as his biographer Poore noted,“a well- the battle. When they did, the side of the river opposite with explosives. the key position, the African American Continued on page 53

st st 46 America’s 1 Freedom | October 2004 America’s 1 Freedom | October 2004 47 NRA Presidents from page 47 A Racially Diverse Military | In 1877,Rhode Island’s Sen. Burnside—who was now the second-ranking member of the Senate Committee on Militar y Affairs in Congress— declared his opposition to segregation in the military: “The colored man should be allowed to enlist in any arm of the service he may choose, if he is found by the recruiting officer to be a suitable man, and that he should be assigned by the proper authorities to the corps for which he is best suited, and in which his services will most conduce to the public good.” Burnside was many decades ahead of his time. Not until Harr y Truman’s presidenc y were the armed forces integrated. Sen. Burnside also proposed a program of affirmative action. In those days, education of any sort had been difficult for blacks to obtain and, in many states, had even been illegal. Burnside suggested that the president should appoint promising young black men to West Point, bypassing an entrance examination that they could not pass. Burnside was aware that few black cadets were appointed to West Point, and they suffered ostracism by almost all the rest of the corps. When 18-year-old Johnson C. Whittaker entered the academy in 1876,he was only the third black cadet ever. One spring day in 1880, Whittaker was found tied to his bed, unconscious, and bloody from severe cuts. Although a court of inquiry ruled that Whittaker’s wounds were self- inflicted as an attention-getting ploy, Whittaker persisted in his attempt to clear his name and requested a court-martial. Former Union General Winfield Scott Hancock, who would soon become the nra’s sixth president, led a national

st America’s 1 Freedom | October 2004 53 campaign to support Whittaker’s right and the League of American to the judicial hearing he so badly Wheelmen (bicycling). wanted. Nevertheless, the result was a When Ambrose Burnside founded second guilty verdict against. the National Rifle Association in When Burnside learned of the order to promote rifle practice, he mutilation of Cadet Whittaker, he was probably never foresaw that his little horrified. Burnside, who loved his organization would eventually alma mater, advocated the closing of encompass all the shooting sports, West Point if blacks could not be and would grow into the most protected during their studies. powerful lobby in the world. Burnside surely would have been The First Civil Rights pleased had he been told that one day, Organization | And so it should there would be an nrashooting be no surprise that, when America’s range and club in Washington, d.c. oldest civil rights organization was And that in the very segregated incorporated on Nov. 17, 1871,the Washing ton, d.c., for the 1930s and signature of Ambrose E. Burnside was 1940s,the nraclub would be the the first on the list of incorporators. only integrated place where a young And when the new civil rights black man could go and feel fully organization elected its first officers, welcome. At least that was the the directors chose Ambrose Everett experience of Richard Atkinson, a Burnside as the first president of the black man who grew up in the National Rifle Association. District during those years, and who To d ay, bi got s s u ch a s M i ch a el later was elected a director of the Moore spread lies attempting to link National Rifle Association. the National Rifle Association with As nrapresident, Burnside was the Ku Klux Klan—a terrorist instrumental in the organization’s organization that attempted to undo purchase of “Creed’s Farm,” the results of the Civil War by keeping conveniently located just east of New blacks in a state of de facto slavery. To Yo r k C i t y. T h e nra’s new shooting the contrary, the nrawas founded by range at “Creedmoor” became the Union officers who aimed to protect host of the first true national American liberty by fostering competition in target shooting. voluntary training in the responsible Sen. Burnside died in September use of arms. 1881,in Providence,a few months The nra’s Articles of after the beginning of his second term Incorporation were notable for what in the Senate. they did not contain: exclusionary As a Civil War general, Ambrose clauses. In contrast to many of the Burnside surely did not rank with his other organizations and clubs created greatest contemporaries. But as a in the late 19th and early 20th defender of the rights of black people, centuries, the nrahad no restrictions he had very few peers in the military. on membership based on race, His kindness, humility and good sex or religion. judgment repeatedly earned the The nraquickly grew into the endorsement of the people of Rhode governing organization for the Island. And in founding the National shooting sports in the United States. Rifle Association in 1871,Ambrose Its policy of complete integration Burnside began to accomplish the contrasted markedly with the racist project he had begun at Petersburg in policies of other sporting 1864: to prove to the world that free, organizations, such as the u.s.Lawn armed black Americans possess the Tennis Association, the Professional character, courage and skill not only Golf Association, the New York to be entitled to full legal civil rights, Athletic Club (for track and field), but to be fully accepted in ever y the Amateur Athletic Union (same) social sphere.

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