A certain style of facial hair was named for a Major General in the American Civil War, who sported such a style. What's the name of this style, and what was the name of the General?

The popular style of facial hair known as sideburns is directly named after Ambrose E. Burnside, a prominent but often controversial Major General for the Union Army during the American Civil War. Burnside was well-known for his striking and unusual facial hair, which consisted of thick strips of whiskers grown down the sides of his face that connected to a mustache, but with a completely clean-shaven chin. His distinctive look was so famous that men who emulated the style were said to be wearing "burnsides."

While a West Point graduate and a successful arms manufacturer, Burnside's military career was marked by both significant commands and devastating failures, most notably the Union's catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Despite his mixed record on the battlefield, he remained a popular public figure. After the war, he served as the governor of Rhode Island and later as one of the state's first U.S. Senators.

Over time, the term "burnsides" underwent a common linguistic shift. The two syllables of his last name were transposed, or flipped, to create the modern word we use today: "sideburns." It remains one of the clearest examples of an eponym—a word derived from a person's name—in the world of fashion and grooming.