Brigadier General John Adams, CSA: A Biography

John Adams is best remembered as one of the four Confederate generals who lay upon the porch of the Carnton House after the battle of Franklin. Unfortunately John did not leave us much in the way of personal papers so this biography has been pieced together from Army records and what other sources could be found. Many of the holes have been filled with the experiences of others who were in the same places at the same time as Adams.

This biography can serve as a good case study not only of a Confederate general but of other aspects of 19th century American history. His career in the US Army gives us a good look at the military, the concept of manifest destiny, and the relations with those conquered by the Army, the Indians. This book also takes a close look at one of the more debated topics in Civil War history: why did a man who served the United States for most of his life chose to abandon his career and homeland to side with the Confederacy?