[1] He read law at the office of Thomas W. Bartley and Samuel J. Kirkwood and was admitted to the bar, practicing in the county seat, Mansfield.

In 1860, Burns ran for a seat in the federal House of Representatives, losing to the incumbent, Republican John Sherman.

[3] The governor, David Tod, offered Burns the colonelcy of the 86th Ohio Infantry; he accepted, but served very little because of chronic lung problems.

[5] After the war, Burns continued his political activity, running for Congress again in an 1868 special election that followed the sudden death of Cornelius S. Hamilton; he lost by 385 votes to John Beatty.

[7] Burns also entered the business world after the war, organizing the Mansfield Saving Bank in 1869 and serving as its first president.