g to relieve the loyalists in East Tennessee, in
September entered Knoxville, to which the Confederate general James
Longstreet unsuccessfully laid siege. In 1864 Burnside led his old IX.
corps under Grant in the Wilderness and Petersburg campaigns. After bearing
his part well in the many bloody battles of that time, he was overtaken
once more by disaster. The failure of the "Burnside mine" at Petersburg
brought about his resignation. A year later he left the service, and in
1866 he became governor of Rhode Island, serving for three terms
(1866-1869). From 1875 till his death he was a Republican member of the
United States Congress. He was present with the German headquarters at the
siege of Paris in 1870-71. He died at Bristol, Rhode Island, on the 13th of
September 1881.

See B.P. Poore, _Life and Public Services of Ambrose E. Burnside_
(Providence, 1882); A. Woodbury, _Major-General Burnside and the Ninth Army
Corps_ (Providence, 1867).

BURNTISLAND, a royal, municipal and police burgh of Fife, Scotland, on the
shore of the Firth of Forth, 53/4 m. S.W. of Kirkcaldy by the North British
railway. Pop. (1891) 4993; (1901) 4846. It is protected from the north wind
by the Binn (632 ft.), and in consequence of its excellent situation, its
links and sandy beach, it enjoys considerable repute as a summer resort.
The chief industries are distilling, fisheries, shipbuilding and shipping,
especially the export of coal and iron. Until the opening of the Forth
bridge, its commodious harbour was the northern station of the ferry across
the firth from Granton, 5 m. south. The parish church, dating from 1594, is
a plain structure, with a squat tower rising in two tiers from the centre
of the roof. The public buildings include two hospitals, a town-hall, music
hall, library and reading room and science institute. On the rocks forming
the western end of the harbour stands Rossend Castle, where the amorous
French poet Chastelard repeated the insult to Queen Mary which led to his
execution. In 1667 it was ineffectually bombarded by the Dutch. The burgh
was originally called Parva Kinghorn and later Wester Kinghorn. The origin
and meaning of the present name of the town have always been a matter of
conjecture. There seems reason to believe that it refers to the time when
the site, or a portion of it, formed an island, as sea-sand is the subsoil
even of the oldest quarters. Another derivation is from Gaelic words
meaning "the island beyon