Scope and Contents

This collection is divided into four series and includes letters and other papers of the Civil War surgeon Samuel Adams, as well as two CDs containing scans of the letters and transcriptions, and other documentation. The letters were sent to Adams's family and were written from the sites of major battles of the Civil War, including Antietam, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. One letter mentions Lincoln's assassination. The collection contains medical papers written by Adams, a military pass, and a list of "maxims" written by Adams's body servant, WIlliam. Additionally, genealogical information connecting the collection donor to Samuel Adams, transcriptions of all handwritten documentation, and a copy of Grandfather to Grandson, which is a collection of letters written by the donor's great-grandfather during the Great Depression, are included.

Arrangement

Collection is arranged into four series.

Series 1: Supplemental Documentation, 1862-1933, undated

Series 2: Civil War Letters, 1862-1865 (bulk 1862-1863)

Series 3: Medical Papers, undated

Series 4: Miscellaneous Documents, 1861 July 16, undated

Biographical / Historical

Samuel Adams was born in Maine around 1839, and was a surgeon for the Union Army during the United States Civil War. Adams enlisted on April 16, 1862 as an assistant surgeon, and was commissioned into the U.S. Army Medical Staff as part of the regular Army. Adams received two promotions by brevet during the war to Captain and then to Major. He was present during the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg, and died of yellow fever on September 9,1867 in Galveston, Texas.