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R.W. Adams
(1839 - 1886)
Home State: Florida
Education: University of Georgia, Class of 1859
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 5th Florida Infantry
Before Sharpsburg
His father Nathaniel Alexander Adams (1797–1849) was a wealthy planter and slaveholder at Athens in Clarke County, GA, but died when Robert was about 10 years old. In 1860 Robert was a 20 year old teacher, presumably for the 3 Broward children, and lived on the Francis Broward plantation (16 slaves) at Jasper in Hamilton County, FL. He enlisted there on 14 March 1862 and mustered the same day as a Private in the Frink Guards (Captain John Frink). They became Company F of the 5th Florida Infantry and he was promoted to First Sergeant on 2 May.
On the Campaign
He was sent to a hospital in Frederick, MD by 12 September, left behind, and captured there.
The rest of the War
He was probably in US Army General Hospital #1 in Frederick, MD, a prisoner at Fort Delaware, then transferred about 2 October to Aikens' Landing, VA for exchange. He was officially exchanged on 10 November 1862.
He had been appointed 3rd Lieutenant in October (to date from August) and was promoted to First Lieutenant on 3 March 1863. He was captured again, at Gettysburg, PA on 1 July and was a prisoner on Johnson's Island, near Sandusky, OH until he was exchanged on 3 March 1864. He may have been promoted to Captain while a prisoner, after Captain Frink was killed at Gettysburg. He went on sick furlough on 11 June, was in a hospital in Lake City, FL, and resigned his commission on 29 December 1864.
After the War
He served in the Florida Senate in 1870-73 and by 1880 was a merchant with with his son Frank in a store at White Springs, Hamilton County, FL.
References & notes
His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3, his Confederate Officers Card, and Hartman's Biographical Rosters of Florida's Confederate and Union Soldiers (1995-). Personal details from family genealogists, Clarke County (GA) Tax Records (1842-45), and the US Census of 1860 & 1880. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture from a photograph in the State Archives of Florida.
He married Sophia Jane Broward (1841-1914) in June 1861 and they had 5 children.
Birth
10/10/1839; Athens, GA
Death
08/15/1886; White Springs, FL; burial in Riverside Cemetery, White Springs, FL
1 US War Department, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, Record Group No. 109 (War Department Collection of Confederate Records), Washington DC: US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), 1903-1927 [AotW citation 34508]