Ambrose E. Burnside was a man who was generally liked and respected because he had such a congenial personality. He was also much esteemed by President Lincoln.

However, he was not a particularly capable military leader. After his ineffective showing at the battle of Petersburg in 1864, he resigned from military service. Though Ulysses S. Grant also liked him, he remarked upon his resignation that Burnside was not fit to command an army and "no one knew this better than himself."