James D. Porter, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 7.1, Tennessee
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

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Biographical.

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Brigadier-General John Adams

Brigadier-General John Adams, a gallant soldier was born at Nashville, July 1, 1825. His father afterward located at Pulaski, and it was from that place that young Adams entered West Point as a cadet, where he was graduated in June, 1846. On his graduation he was commissioned second lieutenant of the First Dragoons, then serving under Gen. Philip Kearny. At Santa Cruz de Rosales, Mexico, March 16, 1848, he was brevetted first lieutenant for gallantry, and on October 9, 1851, he was commissioned first lieutenant. In 1853 he acted as aide to the governor of Minnesota with the rank of lieutenant-colonel of State forces, this position, however, not affecting his rank in the regular service. He was promoted in his regiment to the rank of captain, November, 1856. May 27, 1861, on the secession of his State, he resigned his commission in the United States army and tendered his services to the Southern Confederacy. He was first made captain of cavalry and placed in command of the post at Memphis, whence he was ordered to western Kentucky and thence to Jackson, Miss. In 1862 he was commissioned colonel, and on December 29th was promoted to brigadier-general. On the death of Brig.-Gen. Lloyd Tilghman, May 16, 1863, Adams was placed by General Johnston in command of that officer's brigade, comprising the Sixth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-third and Forty-third Mississippi regiments of infantry. He was in Gen. J. E. Johnston's campaign for the relief of Vicksburg, in the fighting around Jackson, Miss., and afterward served under Polk in that State and marched with that general from Meridian, Miss., to Demopolis, Ala., thence to Rome, Ga., and forward [286] to Resaca, where he joined the army of Tennessee. He served with distinction in the various battles of the campaign from Dalton to Atlanta, he and his gallant brigade winning fresh laurels in the fierce battles around the ‘Gate City.’ After the fall of Atlanta, when Hood set out from Palmetto for his march into north Georgia in the gallant effort to force Sherman to return northward, Adams' brigade was much of the time in advance, doing splendid service, and at Dalton capturing many prisoners. It was the fate of General Adams, as it was of his friend and classmate at West Point, Gen. Geo. E. Pickett, to reach the height of his fame leading his men in a brilliant and desperate, but unsuccessful, charge. But he did not come off so well as Pickett; for in the terrific assault at Franklin, Adams lost his life. Though wounded severely in his right arm near the shoulder early in the fight and urged to leave the field, he said: ‘No; I am going to see my men through.’ He fell on the enemy's works, pierced with nine bullets His brigade lost on that day over 450 in killed and wounded, among them many field and line officers. Lieut.-Col. Edward Adams Baker, of the Sixty-fifth Indiana infantry, who witnessed the death of General Adams at Franklin, obtained the address of Mrs. Adams many years after the war and wrote to her from Webb City, Mo. This letter appeared in the Confederate Veteran of June, 1897, an excellent magazine of information on Confederate affairs, and is here quoted: ‘General Adams rode up to our works and, cheering his men, made an attempt to leap his horse over them. The horse fell upon the top of the embankment and the general was caught under him, pierced with bullets. As soon as the charge was repulsed, our men sprang over the works and lifted the horse, while others dragged the general from under him. He was perfectly conscious and knew his fate. He asked for water, as all dying men do in battle as the life-blood drips from the body. One of my men gave him a canteen of [287] water, while another brought an armful of cotton from an old gin near by and made him a pillow. The general gallantly thanked them, and in answer to our expressions of sorrow at his sad fate, he said, “It is the fate of a soldier to die for his country,” and expired.’ The wife of General Adams was Miss Georgia McDougal, daughter of a distinguished surgeon of the United States army. She was in every way worthy to be the wife of so gallant a man. Though left a widow with four sons and two daughters, she reared them, under all the severe trials of that sad period, to be useful men and women.

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Brigadier-General Samuel R. Anderson

Brigadier-General Samuel R. Anderson, of Nashville, when Tennessee began to make ready for war, was made major-general in the army of the State, May 9, 1861, and upon the transfer of the troops to the Confederate government he accepted the position of brigadier-general in the provisional army of the Confederate States, being commissioned July 9, 1861. He commanded a splendid brigade, consisting of the First, Seventh and Fourteenth Tennessee infantry and one company of Tennessee cavalry. This brigade was assigned to the division of General Loring in West Virginia during the summer and fall of 1861. One of his colonels, George Maney of the First Tennessee, after serving with distinction in Virginia was transferred to the western field of operations, and as brigadier-general did valiant work in the army of Tennessee, from Shiloh to the close of the Atlanta campaign. Another colonel, Robert Hatton of the Seventh Tennessee, also became a brigadier-general, succeeding Anderson in brigade command, and was killed at the battle of Seven Pines. General Anderson commanded his brigade during the movements in western Virginia from August to November, 1861; and from December, 1861, to March, 1862, under the renowned Stonewall Jackson. In August, 1861, Gen. Robert E. Lee was sent to command in West Virginia. He went to work with great vigor to [288] get his army ready for an offensive campaign. But heavy rains set in, which in that mountainous region soon randered roads impassable. All sorts of camp diseases, such as measles, typhoid and intermittent, fever, broke out and prostrated at least one-third of the soldiers. Camp and picket duty bore heavily on those who were well. But the Federal army was enduring the same hardships and had no advantage over the Confederates in that respect. So Lee ordered Loring's troops from Huntersville and Henry R. Jackson's brigade from Greenbrier river to assail the Federal garrison on Cheat mountain. The battle, however, did not come off, on account of the failure of Colonel Rust to open the fight at the time intended. The fall passed away in the routine duties of guard and picket service, marching and countermarching. In the winter, Anderson was called upon to join the forces of Stonewall Jackson near Winchester, and he participated in the campaign to Hancock, Bath and Romney. Subsequently he commanded the brigade on the Peninsula under General Magruder, until in March he withdrew from active service and soon afterward resigned his commission, but continued to labor in other capacities for the success of the cause. His brigade gained fame under the leadership of