Effect of The Carbine On Burnside's Career
Though he was actually a poor military officer, Ambrose Burnside rose through the ranks partly because his carbine was so well known. He was pressured by President Lincoln several times to take command of the Union Army of the Potomac. He repeatedly declined, saying "I was not competent to command such a large army as this." When he eventually did accept command, he led the Army of the Potomac to defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg. The battle and the subsequent retreat left Burnside's "officers complaining loudly to the White House and the War Department about his incompetence." He also performed poorly at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, and a court of inquiry blamed him for the Union failure at the Battle of the Crater.
Read more about this topic: Burnside Carbine
Famous quotes containing the words effect of, effect and/or career:
“The law before us, my lords, seems to be the effect of that practice of which it is intended likewise to be the cause, and to be dictated by the liquor of which it so effectually promotes the use; for surely it never before was conceived by any man entrusted with the administration of public affairs, to raise taxes by the destruction of the people.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“Before the effect one believes in different causes than one does after the effect.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“I restore myself when I’m alone. A career is born in public—talent in privacy.”
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962)