# Daniel Weisiger Adams

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{{short description|American lawyer}}
{{Other people|Daniel Adams}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Daniel Weisiger Adams
|birth_date= {{birth date|1821|5|1}}
|death_date= {{death date and age|1872|6|13|1821|5|1}}
|image=DanielWAdams.jpg
|caption= D. W. Adams as a Confederate General
|nickname=
|birth_place= [Frankfort, Kentucky](/source/Frankfort%2C_Kentucky), US
|death_place= [New Orleans](/source/New_Orleans), Louisiana, US
|burial_place= [Greenwood Cemetery, Mississippi](/source/Greenwood_Cemetery%2C_Mississippi), US
|burial_label= Place of burial
|allegiance= Confederate States of America
|branch= Confederate States Army
|service_years= 1861–1865
|rank= [Brigadier General](/source/General_officers_in_the_Confederate_States_Army)
|unit=
|commands= [1st Louisiana Regulars](/source/1st_Louisiana_Regulars)
|battles= [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War)<br/>-[Battle of Shiloh](/source/Battle_of_Shiloh)<br/>-[Battle of Perryville](/source/Battle_of_Perryville)<br/>-[Battle of Stones River](/source/Battle_of_Stones_River)<br/>-[Battle of Chickamauga](/source/Battle_of_Chickamauga)<br/>-[Battle of Selma](/source/Battle_of_Selma)
|awards=
|relations= Brother of [William Wirt Adams](/source/William_Wirt_Adams)
|other_work=
}}
'''Daniel Weisiger Adams''' (May 1, 1821 &ndash; June 13, 1872) was a lawyer and a [brigadier general](/source/Brigadier_general_(CSA)) in the [Confederate States Army](/source/Confederate_States_Army) during the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War).

==Early life and career==
Adams was born in [Frankfort, Kentucky](/source/Frankfort%2C_Kentucky),<ref name="Eicher99">Eicher, John H., and [David J. Eicher](/source/David_J._Eicher), ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8047-3641-3}}. p. 99.</ref><ref name="Faust">Faust, Patricia L. ''Adams, Daniel Weisiger''. In ''Historical Times Illustrated History of the Civil War'', edited by Patricia L. Faust. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. {{ISBN|978-0-06-273116-6}}., p.2.</ref><ref name="Sifakis2">Sifakis, Stewart. ''Who Was Who in the Civil War.'' New York: Facts On File, 1988. {{ISBN|0-8160-1055-2}}. p. 2.</ref><ref name="Warner1">Warner, Ezra J., ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders'', Louisiana State University Press, 1959, {{ISBN|0-8071-0823-5}}. p. 1.</ref> to George Adams and Anna Weisiger Adams. His brother, [William Wirt Adams](/source/William_Wirt_Adams), was also a Confederate Army brigadier general.<ref name="Eicher99"/><ref name="Faust"/><ref name="Warner1"/>

The family moved to Mississippi in 1825.<ref>According to Eicher, 2001, p. 99, Adams was educated at the [University of Virginia](/source/University_of_Virginia). Other sources for this article do not mention his education at the University of Virginia.</ref> Adams read law and became a lawyer in Mississippi.<ref name="Faust"/><ref name="Sifakis2"/><ref name="Warner1"/>
right|170px|thumb|Pre-Civil War portrait of Daniel Adams
He also was a [second lieutenant](/source/Second_lieutenant) in the [Mississippi Militia](/source/Mississippi_State_Troops) and a member of the [Mississippi legislature](/source/Mississippi_legislature), serving in the Mississippi State Senate from 1852 to 1856.<ref name="Eicher99"/><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Allardice |first1=Bruce S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FeUzEAAAQBAJ |title=Kentuckians in Gray: Confederate Generals and Field Officers of the Bluegrass State |last2=Hewitt |first2=Lawrence Lee |date=2021-12-14 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-9406-6 |language=en}}</ref>

Adams killed [James Hagan](/source/James_Hagan_(Confederate_colonel)) in a duel on June 6, 1843.  Hagan, editor of the ''Vicksburg Sentinel'', had criticized Adams' father.<ref name="Faust"/><ref name="Sifakis2"/><ref name="Warner1"/><ref>Warner says that Adams'sfather was a federal judge. Eicher, 2001, p. 99 says Adams killed a federal judge who had criticized his father's newspaper.</ref>

Adams moved to [New Orleans, Louisiana](/source/New_Orleans%2C_Louisiana) in 1852.<ref name="Faust"/> He became prominent in local political and social circles, and his practice became one of the city's largest.

==Civil War==
[[File:21-32-046-adams.jpg|thumb|Bust of Adams at [Vicksburg National Military Park](/source/Vicksburg_National_Military_Park)]]

With the [secession](/source/secession) of [Louisiana](/source/Louisiana) following the 1860 election of [Abraham Lincoln](/source/Abraham_Lincoln) as [President of the United States](/source/President_of_the_United_States), in early 1861 [Louisiana Governor](/source/Louisiana_Governor) [Thomas O. Moore](/source/Thomas_O._Moore) appointed Adams a member of the military board created to prepare the state for war.<ref name="Faust"/><ref name="Sifakis2"/> Adams was later appointed a [lieutenant colonel](/source/Lieutenant_colonel_(United_States)) of the [1st Louisiana Regulars](/source/1st_Louisiana_Regulars_Infantry_Regiment), or 1st Louisiana Infantry, in the Confederate Army, and was promoted to the rank of [colonel](/source/Colonel_(United_States)) on October 30, 1861, after the regiment was sent to [Pensacola, Florida](/source/Pensacola%2C_Florida).<ref name="Eicher99"/><ref name="Faust"/><ref name="Sifakis2"/><ref name="Warner1"/>

When his regiment's brigade commander, Brigadier General [Adley H. Gladden](/source/Adley_H._Gladden) was killed on the first day of the [Battle of Shiloh](/source/Battle_of_Shiloh), Adams assumed command of the brigade.<ref name="Eicher99"/><ref name="Faust"/><ref name="Sifakis2"/><ref name="Warner1"/> Soon thereafter, Adams was wounded in further fighting at the [Hornet's Nest](/source/Battle_of_Shiloh). A bullet hit Adams just above his left eye and exited behind the left ear, severing the [optic nerve](/source/optic_nerve) and leaving him blinded in the left eye.<ref name="Eicher99"/><ref name="Faust"/><ref name="Warner1"/><ref name="Sifakis3">Sifakis, 1988, p. 3.</ref> Adams was put in an ambulance wagon, but had become unresponsive, so the driver assumed he was dead and threw him overboard to lighten the load.<ref name="Welsh">Welsh, Jack D. [https://www.questia.com/read/102735069/medical-histories-of-confederate-generals ''Medical Histories of Confederate Generals''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802175407/https://www.questia.com/read/102735069/medical-histories-of-confederate-generals |date=2020-08-02 }}. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1995. {{ISBN|978-0-87338-505-3}}. Retrieved June 20, 2015. p. 1.</ref> Adams was saved when passing soldiers of the [10th Mississippi Infantry](/source/10th_Mississippi_Infantry) Regiment found him and realized that he was still alive. After a month of recuperating in an army hospital in [Corinth](/source/Corinth%2C_Mississippi), he was able to resume his duties.<ref name="Welsh"/>

Adams was promoted to [brigadier general](/source/Brigadier_General_(CSA)) on May 23. 1862.<ref name="Eicher99"/><ref name="Faust"/><ref name="Sifakis2"/><ref name="Warner1"/> He led his brigade at the battles of [Perryville](/source/Battle_of_Perryville)<ref>Eicher, 2001, p. 99 shows Adams as wounded at Perryville but the other sources do not.</ref> and [Stones River](/source/Battle_of_Stones_River).<ref name="Eicher99"/><ref name="Faust"/><ref name="Warner1"/><ref name="Sifakis3"/> He was wounded again, in the left arm,<ref name="Eicher99"/> at Stones River on December 31, 1862.<ref name="Faust"/><ref name="Warner1"/><ref name="Sifakis3"/>

Adams returned to duty in early 1863 and led his brigade at the siege of Jackson, Mississippi under [General](/source/General_(CSA)) [Joseph E. Johnston](/source/Joseph_E._Johnston).<ref name="Eicher99"/><ref name="Faust"/><ref name="Warner1"/><ref name="Sifakis3"/> Under the command of General [Braxton Bragg](/source/Braxton_Bragg), Adams's brigade fought at the [Chickamauga](/source/Battle_of_Chickamauga).<ref name="Eicher99"/><ref name="Faust"/><ref name="Warner1"/><ref name="Sifakis3"/> Adams's brigade broke through the Union lines on the second day of the battle but they were driven back by Union Army reinforcements.<ref name="Faust"/> Adams was again wounded, in the left arm, and captured.<ref name="Eicher99"/><ref name="Faust"/><ref name="Warner1"/><ref name="Sifakis3"/>

When he recovered sufficiently to return to duty and was exchanged, Adams briefly commanded a [cavalry](/source/cavalry) [brigade](/source/brigade).<ref name="Faust"/> He subsequently was made the commander of the District of Central Alabama in 1864, and the commander of the State of Alabama, North of Gulf Department in 1865. Although he sought a promotion to major general, he remained a brigadier general until the end of the war.<ref name="Eicher99"/>  He took part in the [Battle of Selma](/source/Battle_of_Selma) in 1865, and the [Battle of Columbus, Georgia](/source/Battle_of_Columbus_(1865)), that same year. Adams surrendered to Union forces in [Meridian, Mississippi](/source/Meridian%2C_Mississippi) on May 9 and took the oath of allegiance to the United States.<ref name="Eicher99"/><ref name="Sifakis2"/>

==Postbellum career==
After the war ended, Adams spent some time in England,<ref name="Faust"/> then returned to [New Orleans](/source/New_Orleans) to practice law along with [Harry T. Hays](/source/Harry_T._Hays), a fellow Confederate general. Adams lived for a time in [New York City](/source/New_York_City) where he was involved in the [real estate](/source/real_estate) business before moving back to New Orleans to resume his law practice and engage in state politics. He died in his office of a massive stroke on June 13, 1872.<ref name="Eicher99"/><ref name="Faust"/> Daniel Weisiger Adams is buried at [Greenwood Cemetery](/source/Greenwood_Cemetery%2C_Mississippi) in [Jackson, Mississippi](/source/Jackson%2C_Mississippi) next to his brother William Wirt Adams.<ref name="Eicher99"/><ref name="Warner1"/> Daniel Weisiger Adams's gravesite is unmarked.<ref name="Warner1"/> He was a member of [The Boston Club](/source/The_Boston_Club) of New Orleans.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.cu09362126&seq=297 | title=History of the Boston club, organized in 1841, by Stuart O. Landry }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}}
*[List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)](/source/List_of_American_Civil_War_generals_(Confederate))
*[William Wirt Adams](/source/William_Wirt_Adams)
*[Reed N. Weisiger](/source/Reed_N._Weisiger)

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Eicher, John H., and [David J. Eicher](/source/David_J._Eicher), ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8047-3641-3}}.
* Faust, Patricia L. ''Adams, Daniel Weisiger''. In ''Historical Times Illustrated History of the Civil War'', edited by Patricia L. Faust. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. {{ISBN|978-0-06-273116-6}}.
* Sifakis, Stewart. ''Who Was Who in the Civil War.'' New York: Facts On File, 1988. {{ISBN|0-8160-1055-2}}.
* Warner, Ezra J., ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders'', Louisiana State University Press, 1959, {{ISBN|0-8071-0823-5}}.

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Daniel Weisiger}}
Category:1821 births
Category:1872 deaths
Category:People from Frankfort, Kentucky
Category:University of Virginia alumni
Category:Lawyers from New Orleans
Category:People of Louisiana in the American Civil War
Category:Confederate States Army brigadier generals
Category:American Civil War prisoners of war
Category:American duellists
Category:Mississippi lawyers
Category:Mississippi state senators
Category:19th-century American lawyers
Category:Burials at Greenwood Cemetery (Jackson, Mississippi)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Daniel Weisiger Adams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Weisiger_Adams) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Weisiger_Adams?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.