Burnside

Ambrose Burnside, the Union general, was a major player on the Civil War stage from the first clash at Bull Run until the final summer of the war. He led a corps or army during most of this time and played important roles in various theaters of the war. But until now, he has been remembered mostly for his distinctive side–whiskers that gave us the term “sideburns” and as an incompetent leader who threw away thousands of lives in the bloody battle of Fredericksburg.

In a biography focusing on...