Ambrose Everett Burnside (1824 - 1881) was an American soldier, railroad executive, inventor, industrialist, and politician from Rhode Island, serving as governor and a U.S. Senator. Burnside was a Union Army general in the Civil War and conducted campaigns in North Carolina and East Tennessee but was defeated in the Battle of Fredericksburg and Battle of the Crater. The term "sideburns" is derived from his last name and his distinctive style of facial hair.