John G. B. Adams

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John Gregory Bishop Adams
October 6, 1841(1841-10-06) – October 19, 1900 (aged 59)
John Gregory Bishop Adams
Place of birth	Groveland, Massachusetts
Allegiance	Union
Service/branch	Union Army
Rank	Private -Captain
Unit	19th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars	American Civil War - Peninsula Campaign - Battle of Antietam - Battle of Fredericksburg - Chancellorsville - Gettysburg - The Wilderness - Spotsylvania - Cold Harbor
Awards	Medal of Honor

John Gregory Bishop Adams (October 6, 1841 – October 19, 1900) was an American soldier who received the Medal of Honor for valor during the American Civil War.

1 Biography
2 Medal of Honor citation
3 See also
4 Notes
5 References

[edit] Biography

Adams was born in Groveland, Massachusetts.^[1] When the Civil War broke out he enlisted as a Private in Major Ben Perley Poore's Rifle Battalion, a unit that was later folded into the 19th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. When the 19th departed the state on March 1, 1861, Adams was a Corporal in Company A.^[2]

He served with the 19th in the Peninsula Campaign and at the Battle of Antietam. 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.^[3] 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.^[4] He was one of seven soldiers from the 19th Regiment who received the Medal of Honor during the war.^[3]

Later promoted to Captain, Adams commanded Company I at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, where he was severely wounded on July 2, 1863. His convalescence was relatively brief and he was able to return and fight at The Wilderness, Spotsylvania and 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.^[5]

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.^[2]

Adams was a member of the Freemasons and the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), joining as the first member of his local post.^[2] He served as a delegate to the national GAR 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.^[6] In 1899 he published a memoir of his war service, Reminiscences of the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment.^[7] He is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Lynn, Massachusetts.^[3]

[edit] Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, Company I, 19th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Fredericksburg, Va., 13 December 1862. Birth: Groveland, Mass. Date of issue: 16 December 1896.

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.^[4]