site logo
[no picture yet]

[no picture yet]

Federal (USV)

Private

Isaac Newcomb Adams

(1832 - 1862)

Home State: Maine

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 19th Massachusetts Infantry

Before Antietam

A 28 year old shoemaker from Groveland, he enlisted in Company A, 19th Massachusetts Infantry on 26 July 1861.

On the Campaign

He was mortally wounded in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

I had not seen my brother since we advanced in line. He was left general guide of the regiment, and his place was on the left. As soon as we halted I went to the company, but he was not there. The following day I searched the hospitals, but could not find him, and on the morning of the 19th, the rebels having left our front, I went where their lines had been and found him with Jacob Hazen of Company C and George Carlton of Company B, near an old haystack. He had been shot in the right side of the neck, the ball passing out of the left shoulder; it had cut the spinal nerve, and he could not move hand or foot. I saw at once that he could not live and had him placed in an ambulance and carried to our field hospital. It was the saddest duty of my life ...

While my brother lay wounded on the field inside rebel lines an officer of the 8th South Carolina came along, and seeing 19 on his cap asked to what regiment he belonged. Being informed it was the 19 Massachusetts, he said he had a brother in that regiment named Daniel W. Spofford. My brother told him his brother was wounded in the battle, and might be on the field. He searched for him, but did not find him, as he [Daniel] was able to go to the rear before we [19th Mass] changed front. Returning, he had my brother carried to the haystack where I found him, and rendered all the assistance possible. The name of the South Carolina Officer was Phineas Spofford. Both brothers survived the War.

The rest of the War

He died of wounds on 22 September 1862.

References & notes

Casualty information from Nelson1 with service from Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines.2 The quote above from his brother John G.B. Adams' book Reminiscences of the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment (1899). His gravesite is on Findagrave. There's no mention in his brother's book or the State Roster of his being a Sergeant.

Birth

11/20/1832; Bradford, MA

Death

09/22/1862; Sharpsburg, MD; burial in Riverview Cemetery, Groveland, MA

Notes

1   Nelson, John H., As Grain Falls Before the Reaper: The Federal Hospital Sites and Identified Federal Casualties at Antietam, Hagerstown: John H. Nelson, 2004, pg. 111  [AotW citation 16089]

2   Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Adjutant General, Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War, 8 Vols, Norwood (MA): Norwood Press, 1931-35, Vol. 2, pg. 413  [AotW citation 16572]