John G. B. Adams
John Gregory Bishop Adams | |
---|---|
![]() John Gregory Bishop Adams | |
Born | Groveland, Massachusetts, U.S. | October 6, 1841
Died | October 19, 1900 | (aged 59)
Place of burial | Pine Grove Cemetery in Lynn, Massachusetts |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Branch | ![]() Union Army |
Years of service | 1861–1865 |
Rank | ![]() |
Unit | 19th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry |
Battles / wars | American Civil War |
Awards | ![]() |
John Gregory Bishop Adams (October 6, 1841 – October 19, 1900) was an American soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the American Civil War.
Adams was born October 6, 1841, in Groveland, Massachusetts,[1] to Isaac and Margaret Adams. He married Mary E. on April 5, 1866, in Boston. They had two children, but they both died in infancy.[2]
When Adams returned home after the war, he worked a series of jobs including working for a shoe company, as a customs inspector, postmaster, and deputy warden. He served as a Massachusetts elector in the 1868 presidential election. In 1899 Adams published a war service memoir, Reminiscences of the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment.
Biography
[edit]Adams enlisted into military service as a private and eventually achieved the rank of captain. During his Civil War service he fought in several major battles including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. It was during the Battle of Fredericksburg that his actions would earn him the United States military's highest decoration for valor, the Medal of Honor. During the battle of Cold Harbor his entire regiment was captured and held as prisoners in a Confederate prison camp where he was held for nine months.[3]
Civil War service
[edit]Adams enlisted as a Private in Major Benjamin Perley Poore's Rifle Battalion, a unit that was later folded into the 19th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.[4] The 19th Massachusetts was organized at Camp Schouler in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, in April 1861.[5][note 1] The 19th was largely composed of Essex County men. Its core began as three companies of the state militia's 1st Battalion Massachusetts Rifles from Essex County.[6][note 2] In the camp, Adams and his fellow militia rifleman regiment turned in most of their Windsor, Vermont produced Model 1841s and received the Model 1856 Enfield Rifle. Also known as "the 2-band Enfield" and "Sergeants' Rifle," it was the rifle that the British army issued to its rifle regiments and to sergeants in its line battalions.[7][note 3] A handful of the Model 1841s that were in excellent condition and had been modified to .58 caliber and with rear sights and bayonets were retained,[8] but most of the men received the new rifles and were impressed with them.[9]
Due to a lack of personnel and infrastructure ready when the war began, the federal government left the recruiting, equipping, and providing of recruits to the states with reimbursement to come from the federal level upon muster into federal service.[10] Since the states were handling the process, existing militia companies building to full-strength followed the existing militia practice of voting in new recruits which made recruitment slower than the new volunteer companies in the regiment.[11] The recruiting for the militia companies and the new volunteer companies were working slowly when the defeat at Bull Run shook Washington, DC.[12] In response, on July 22, Lincoln authorized the call-up of 500,000 more three-year enlistments. The debacle spurred the The next day, the Secretary of War issued a call for all available regiments and detachments to be hurried forward at once.[13]
The salting of the regiment's companies with Salem Zouaves and other veterans of the Eighth injected a new vim and vigor into recruitment and training.[14] The capable veterans brought a renewed sense of purpose and ramped up the training with the all field officers receiving their commissions by August 3 and the last of the staff and line officers on August 22.[15] Despite still lacking its full paper strength,[16] the regiment mustered into Federal service for a three-year enlistment on August 28, 1861, under the command of Colonel Edward Winslow Hincks.[note 4] The plan was to continue recruiting to bring the regiment up to strength in Massachusetts and send the recruits on in groups of drafts.[21] When the 19th departed the state on March 1, 1861, Adams was a corporal in Company A.[22]
Adams saw service in the first year in Maryland and along the Potomac. He was at Ball's Bluff in October 1861. Prior to the Peninsula Campaign, Adms' regiment spent most of their service in counter-insurgency duties where the active minority of secessionists in Maryland supported frequent raids from the Confederacy across the river. With the earlier service of the men in the 8th, and the 19th Massachusett's passage through Baltimore in mind, Adams and his comrades were constantly wary of the secession sentiment.[23][note 5]
He served with the 19th in the Peninsula Campaign and at the Battle of Antietam. During the seven days' fighting on the Peninsula he was conspicuous for his bravery, and at its close his gallantry had won for him a Second Lieutenant's commission.[24] While serving as a Second Lieutenant in Company I, he was one of 18 Union soldiers who received the Medal of Honor for valor at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Adams recovered the regimental and national colors as a corporal and a lieutenant carrying them fell mortally wounded. With a flag in each hand he advanced, and the regiment was reformed on him.[1] He was one of seven soldiers from the 19th Regiment who received the Medal of Honor during the war.
Late, he was fighting at the Battle of Chancellorsville and the Battle of Gettysburg, where he was severely wounded on July 2, 1863; in this battle Adams was the ranking First Lieutenant in his regiment and took command of Company I.[24][25] After Gettysburg he was promoted captain, and during the Wilderness campaign of 1864 he served with distinguished bravery.[24] His convalescence was relatively brief and he was able to return and fight at Battle of the Wilderness, Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, and the Battle of Cold Harbor. He and the entire regiment were captured near Cold Harbor on June 22, 1864, and Adams was held at Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. He was also imprisoned at Macon, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, where he and other officers were placed on Morris Island in an attempt to stop naval bombardment by the Union. Moved to Columbia, he and a comrade attempted to escape but were eventually captured. He was held for a total of nine months.[26]
Postwar life
[edit]After the war, Adams was a foreman for ten years at the B. F. Doak & Company shoe factory in Lynn, Massachusetts. He left that post to become an inspector in the Boston Custom House and later served as the Postmaster of Lynn and Deputy Warden of the State Reformatory at Concord. He served as an elector for the state in the 1868 presidential election. In 1885 he was elected Sergeant at Arms for the Massachusetts legislature, overseeing a staff of approximately forty and earning a salary of $3,000.[22]
Adams was a Freemason as a member of Columbian Lodge A.F.&A.M. in Boston, and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He joined the G.A.R. as the first member of General Frederick W. Lander Post No. 5 in Lynn, his local post.[22][27] He served as a delegate to the national G.A.R. convention twelve times and served a year as Department Commander before being elected as Commander-in-Chief in 1893. At the time, he was elected he had been President of the Association of the Survivors of Rebel Prisons for seven years.[22] He was also a member of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
In 1899, he published a memoir of his war service, Reminiscences of the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment.[26] He died October 19, 1900, and is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Groveland, Massachusetts.[3]
Medal of Honor citation
[edit]Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, Company I, 19th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Fredericksburg, Va., December 13, 1862. Birth: Groveland, Mass. Date of issue: October 19, 1900.
Citation:
Seized the 2 colors from the hands of a corporal and a lieutenant as they fell mortally wounded, and with a color in each hand advanced across the field to a point where the regiment was reformed on those colors.[1]
See also
[edit]- List of Medal of Honor recipients
- List of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients: A–F
- G.A.R. Hall and Museum in Lynn, Massachusetts
References
[edit]Footnotes
[edit]- ^ The camp was located in fields next to the South Reading Branch of the Eastern Railroad.
- ^ The men of this battalion initialloy expected deployment to defend Washington, D., as the 3rd Battalion, based in Worcester County had done so. The 3rd Battalion had already departed, having completed the required quota from Massachusetts under that initial call.
The term "rifles" was a designation frequently given to antebellum militia companies which trained in the use of rifled muskets—a relatively new innovation at the time—as opposed to smoothbore muskets. Only minor differences in training and tactics differentiated such units from a typical infantry company of the time. During the 1840s, "rifle" companies were often expected to train and serve as skirmishers in open order, however by the Civil War, United States army tactics manuals made no distinction between a company of "rifles" and a typical infantry company. - ^ The Federal and state governments in the U.S. (notably Massachusetts) purchased approximately 8,000 P1856 Short Rifles during the Civil War.
- ^ On August 1, the 19th had received Hincks as its colonel and as its lieutenant colonel, Arthur F. Devereux.[17] Both men had prior militia and federal experience. Colonel Hinks, originally from Maine, had moved from Bangor to Boston as a printer in 1849. By 1855, he had been a state legislator and a Boston city councilor. He had affiliated and drilled in the Commonwealth's militia service with the 8th Massachusetts Militia Regiment as one of the regiment's field officers,[18] and commanded the 8th Massachusetts during its three months' service from April to July 1861. Lieutenant Colonel Devereux had also mobilized with Hincks as commander of the regiment's Company J, which had historically been the Salem Light Infantry but Devereux had outfitted and trained as the Salem Zouaves.[19] The same order that assigned Hincks as the colonel, also named the 19th as "the proper rendezvous for all members of the Eighth Regiment desirous of again enlisting in the service of the country."[20]
- ^ Of the initial passage through Rockville, Adams wrote, "... I expected to kill a rebel or be a dead Yankee before night. We marched through the town and found it as quiet as a New England village."
Citations
[edit]- ^ a b c USACMH, Adams, John G. B. (2010), Hall of Valor, John Gregory Bishop Adams (2024), VCOonline, John Gregory Bishop Adams MOH (2022), CMOHS, John Gregory Bishop Adams (2014), NMoHM, Adams, John Gregory Bishop (2014)
- ^ Rand (1890), p. 6–7
- ^ a b Marquis Who's Who, Inc (1975), p. 3
- ^ Dyer (1908), pp. 1254–1255, Federal Publishing Company (1908), p. 176, Johnson (1906), p. 46
- ^ Schouler (1861), pp. 44–45
- ^ Adams (1899), pp. 1–2, McWhiney & Jamieson (1982), p. 52, Hall (1900), p. 470, Schouler (1868), pp. 82, 190
- ^ CHA, Windsor Enfield By Robbins & Lawrence P1853, (2020), Mink, Armament in the Army of the Potomac, (2008), p.41, Mink, Armament in the Army of the Potomac, (2018), pp.43-44, RIA, Pattern 1856 Percussion Short Rifle, (2020)
- ^ Németh, Shumate & Gilliland (2020), pp. 42–43, Owens (1976), p. 29
- ^ Hess (2008), pp. 36–44, Waitt (1906), p. 27
- ^ Huston (1966), pp. 163–164
- ^ Adams (1899), pp. 4–5
- ^ Nason (1910), pp. 232–233
- ^ McPherson (1988), p. 40, Rawley (1989), p. 58
- ^ Waitt (1906), p. 4
- ^ Dyer (1908), pp. 1215–1216, Higginson (1896), pp. 255–268, Higginson (1895), pp. 440–500
- ^ Bowen (1889), p. 293, Headley (1866), p. 256
- ^ Stevens (1931), p. 411
- ^ Nason (1910), pp. 231–234
- ^ Nason (1910), p. 246-252, Whipple (1890)
- ^ Hall (1900), p. 562, Waitt (1906), p. 3
- ^ Adams (1899), p. 4
- ^ a b c d NYT, Commander in Chief Adams, September 8, 1893
- ^ Adams (1899), pp. 12, Rossino (2020), p. 37
- ^ a b c Johnson (1906), p. 47
- ^ Root et al. (2006), p. 237
- ^ a b Adams (1899), p. 194
- ^ MasonicMuseum, Masonic postcard featuring Adams (2007)
Sources
[edit]- Adams, John Gregory Bishop (1899). Reminiscences of the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment (PDF) (1st ed.). Boston, MA: Wright & Potter Print. Co. p. 194. OCLC 1621356. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Bowen, James L (1889). Massachusetts in the War 1861–1865 (PDF) (1st ed.). Springfield, MA: Clark W. Bryan & Co. pp. 290–310. LCCN 02014318. OCLC 1986476. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Dyer, Frederick H. (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (pdf). Des Moines, IA: Dyer Publishing Company. pp. 25, 41, 158. 276, 290, 291, 1254. hdl:2027/mdp.39015026937642. LCCN 09005239. OCLC 1403309. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Federal Publishing Company (1908). Military Affairs and Regimental Histories of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, And Delaware (PDF). The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal States, 1861–65 – Records of the Regiments in the Union army – Cyclopedia of battles – Memoirs of Commanders and Soldiers. Vol. I. Madison, WI: Federal Publishing Company. p. 176. OCLC 694018100.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Hall, Charles Winslow (1900). Regiments and Armories of Massachusetts. An historical narration of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. With portraits and biographies of Officers, past and present, etc (PDF). Vol. II. Boston: W.H. Potter & Co. OCLC 559765857. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Headley, Phineas Camp (1866). Massachusetts in the Rebellion: a Record of the Historical Position of the Commonwealth, and the Services of the Leading Statesmen, the Military, the Colleges, and the People, in the Civil War of 1861–65 (PDF). Boston, MA: Walker, Fuller & Co. pp. 266–268. OCLC 8406829. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Hess, Earl J. (2008). The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth (PDF) (1st ed.). Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. pp. 2–7, 38–44, 56–57, 75, 107–115. ISBN 978-0-7006-1607-7. OCLC 1311039660. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
- Higginson, Thomas Wentworth (1896). Massachusetts in the Army and Navy During the War of 1861–65 (PDF). Vol. I. Boston, MA: Wright and Potter Printing Co, State Printers. pp. 34, 50–55, 72–79, 92–103, 115–130, 137, 147–151, 230–231, 565–569. OCLC 1049652105. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Higginson, Thomas Wentworth (State Historian (1895). Massachusetts in the Army and Navy During the War of 1861–65 (PDF). Vol. II. Boston, MA: Wright and Potter Printing Co, State Printers. pp. 176, 183–184, 226, 235. LCCN 02014316. OCLC 1049652105. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Huston, James Alvin (1966). The Sinews of War: Army Logistics, 1775-1953 (PDF). Army Historical Series (2nd, 1997 ed.). Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, United States Army. pp. 160–64, 179–186, 180–198, 252, 300, 321–328, 463 474, 660. LCCN 66060015. OCLC 573210. CMH Pub 30-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 16, 2015. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Johnson, Rossiter, ed. (1906). "Vol. I" (PDF). The Biographical Dictionary of America. Vol. 1 (Library ed.). Boston, MA: American Biographical Society. p. 484. OCLC 848266989. 13960-t1jh3jn1z. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Marquis Who's Who, Inc (1975). Who was who in American history, the military. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-8379-3201-9. OCLC 2143230. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
- McPherson, James M. (1988). Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (PDF). Oxford History of the United States (1st ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 904. ISBN 978-0-19-503863-7. OCLC 7577667.
- McWhiney, Grady; Jamieson, Perry D. (1982). Attack and Die: Civil War Tactics and Southern Heritage (PDF). Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 978-0-8173-0229-0. OCLC 7461732. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
- Mink, Eric J. (November 30, 2008). "Armament in the Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg" (PDF). Mysteries & Conundrums. Fredericksburg, VA: Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania NMP Staff. p. 74. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
- Mink, Eric J. (May 2018). "Armament in the Army of the Potomac During the Chancellorsville Campaign" (PDF). Mysteries & Conundrums. Fredericksburg, VA: Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania NMP Staff. p. 77. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
- Nason, George W. (1910). History and Complete Roster of the Massachusetts Regiments, Minute Men of '61 (PDF). Boston, MA: Smith & McCance. LCCN 10027627. OCLC 57590583. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Németh, Balázs; Shumate, J.; Gilliland, A. (2020). Early Military Rifles: 1740–1850. Weapon Series. Vol. Book 76 (Kindle ed.). New York: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. (Osprey Publishing Ltd.). pp. 1–125. ISBN 978-1-4728-4232-9. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
- Owens, Eldon J. (1976). "Guns Made in Windsor, Vermont" (PDF). American Society of Arms Collectors Bulletin 35. Dallas, TX: American Society of Arms Collectors: 29–32. ISSN 0362-9457. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
- Rand, John Clark (1890). One of a Thousand: A Series of Biographical Sketches of One Thousand Representative Men Resident in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, A.D. 1888-'89. Boston: First National Publishing Company. pp. 6–7. LCCN 03019135. OCLC 676868023. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
- Rawley, James A. (1989) [First published 1966]. Turning Points of the Civil War (PDF) (New Bison Book ed.). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-585-25563-7. OCLC 44957745. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
- Root, Edwin R.; Stocker, Jeffrey D.; Jacoby, Richard W. & Hartwig, D. Scott (2006). "Isn't this glorious!": the 15th, 19th, and 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiments at Gettysburg's Copse of Trees (PDF). Bethlehem, PA: Moon Trail Books. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-9773140-0-3. OCLC 70153261. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
- Rossino, Alexander B. (2020). Their Maryland: the Army of Northern Virginia from the Potomac Crossing to Sharpsburg in September 1862. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie. ISBN 978-1-61121-558-8. OCLC 1284926122.
- Schouler, William (1861). Annual Report of the Adjutant-General, December 31, 1861 (PDF). Boston, MA: Adjutant General's Office, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Schouler, William (1868). A History of Massachusetts in the Civil War (PDF) (1st ed.). Boston, MA: E.P. Dutton & Co. pp. 190, 310, 316, 337, 387, 508, 536, 619, 649. LCCN 02014327. OCLC 2662693. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Stevens, Jesse F (1931). Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War (PDF). Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War in Eight Volumes. Vol. 2 (1st ed.). Norwood, MA: Norwood Press. pp. 409–491. LCCN 31027863. OCLC 11485612. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Waitt, Ernest Linden (1906). History of the Nineteenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1861-1865 (PDF) (1st ed.). Salem, MA: Salem Press. p. 456. OCLC 4390879. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Whipple, George Mantum (1890). History of the Salem Light Infantry from 1805-1890 (PDF) (1st ed.). Salem, MA: Essex Institute. p. 148. LCCN 01023732. OCLC 682038115. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- "Soldiers Rest, Washington, D.C." Smithsonian (si.edu). Washington, DC: National Museum of American History, The Smithsonian. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
- "ADAMS, JOHN G. B." United States Army Center of Military History. August 6, 2009. Archived from the original on September 2, 2012. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- "John Gregory Bishop Adams". The Hall of Valor Project. Sightline Media Group. November 5, 2024. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
- "Fine & Scarce Windsor Enfield By Robbins & Lawrence". College Hill Arsenal. 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
- "John Gregory Bishop Adams". Congressional Medal of Honor Society. October 19, 2014. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
- "Masonic postcard featuring Adams". December 24, 2007. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
- "Adams, John Gregory Bishop". The National Medal of Honor Museum. October 19, 2014. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
- "Commander in Chief Adams; Sketch of the Newly-Elected Leader of the G.A.R." (PDF). New York Times. September 8, 1893. p. 9. Retrieved December 25, 2007.
- "Lot 3156: Exceptional Civil War Tower Pattern 1856 Percussion Short Rifle". Rock Island Auction. 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
- "John Gregory Bishop Adams MOH". victoriacrossonline.co.uk. September 3, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
External links
[edit]- "Colorized photograph of John Gregory Bishop Adams". Retrieved December 24, 2007.
- "John Gregory Bishop Adams (Grave at Pine Grove Cemetery)". Retrieved 2022-06-19.
- United States Army Medal of Honor recipients
- People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War
- Union army officers
- 1868 United States presidential electors
- 1841 births
- 1900 deaths
- American Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor
- People from Groveland, Massachusetts
- Grand Army of the Republic commanders-in-chief
- Military personnel from Massachusetts
- American Civil War prisoners of war held by the Confederate States of America
- Burials at Pine Grove Cemetery (Lynn, Massachusetts)