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Daniel Weisiger Adams: Defender of the Confederacy’s Heartland M. Jane Johansson DURING MUCH OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, DANIEL WEISIGER ADAMS, AN ATTORney and businessman, served as a brigadier general. Although not one of the “great” names in Confederate military history, Adams developed into a capable and energetic officer. For thirteen months, from August 1862 to September 1863, he had active command of the Louisiana brigade of the Army of Tennessee . As the first commander of the brigade, Adams successfully instilled greater discipline, created unit pride, and molded the brigade into one of the finest in the army. Following his capture at the Battle of Chickamauga and his subsequent exchange, he was given command of an important Alabama district. His resources, though, were too slim to prevent Wilson’s Raid from gutting the district in the spring of 1865. Rarely complaining, Adams was an intelligent, tough, and brave soldier who survived three serious wounds and maintained his loyalty to the Confederacy until the end. The Confederacy might have survived longer if it had had more soldiers like Daniel W. Adams. Adams was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, in the spring of 1821 to Anna Weisiger Adams and George Adams. A close friend of Henry Clay, George Adams became a district attorney and then a federal district judge during Andrew Jackson’s presidency. These positions necessitated a move to Mississippi when Daniel was still a boy. As a teenager, Adams returned to Kentucky and attended college for a time in Bardstown. In his early twenties, the Mississippi state bar admitted him and he began practicing law. In 1843, and just twenty-two, Adams became involved in a sensational event. That year Mississippi officials probed the alleged embezzlement of state funds by R. S. Graves, a former state treasurer. In an editorial, Vicksburg newspaper editor James Hagan implied that Governor Tilghman Mayfield had given Judge George Adams five hundred dollars for possibly unethical services during the investigation. This editorial outraged Daniel Adams, and after arming M. Jane Johansson 88 himself with a pistol he traveled from Jackson to Vicksburg to demand a retraction. After approaching Hagan, the two men grappled and fell to the ground. When Hagan put his hand around Adams’s throat, Adams drew his pistol, fired, and killed Hagan. Adams was tried for murder, but Henry S. Foote and two other attorneys successfully gained his acquittal.1 This event proved no deterrent and may have even aided his entry into politics a year later when he was elected as an alderman in Jackson. He also married Anna M. Bullis, a Tennessee native and sister-in-law to a prominent judge, in this period. In 1852, voters in Hinds County elected him to the Mississippi State Senate, and he served there for four years. In the late 1850s, Adams moved to the growing commercial center of New Orleans and entered business as a cotton factor with William R. Miles. After just two years in the business arena, Adams returned to his legal career by becoming a partner of Harry T. Hays. Adams would maintain a close association with the state of Louisiana for the rest of his life.2 While residing in Louisiana, Adams became good friends with Thomas O. Moore, who was elected governor in 1859. This connection served him well as Moore appointed Adams to the four-member board to prepare Louisiana for war after that state seceded from the Union. Apparently tiring of this position , “and convinced that my rights as a citizen [of the United States] . . . were denied me,” Adams enlisted and secured an appointment as lieutenant colonel of the 1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment. Authorities dispatched the regiment to Pensacola, Florida, in the spring of 1861 to serve in a force commanded by Brigadier General Braxton Bragg. Adams became colonel of the 1st Louisiana Regulars on September 10, when the commander, Colonel Adley H. Gladden, was promoted to brigadier general. After minor actions around Pensacola, military officials ordered the unit to Corinth, Mississippi, where a strong Confederate force was being concentrated in March 1862.3 Adams first came under enemy fire while scouting near Purdy, Tennessee , about two weeks before the Battle of Shiloh. On April 6, the 1st Louisiana Regulars entered the fight at Shiloh as part of Gladden’s Brigade. Near Spain Field, Gladden fell mortally wounded, and Adams was thrust into command of the brigade. Exhibiting impressive physical courage, Adams took the colors of the 1st Louisiana Regulars...

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