In memoriam. Companion Robert Newton Adams, died at St. Paul, Minnesota, March 24, 1914

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Harclj 24. 1914

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AUG 5 1914

Robert N. Adams was born on a farm in Fay-
ette County, Ohio, September 15th, 1835, and died
at his home in the City of St. Paul, Minnesota,
Marcli 24th, 1914, in his seventy-ninth year.

He was the son of Albert and Nancy Coffey
Adams and through them inherited that traditional
firmness of purpose and uprightness of character
inherent in the old Scotch Presbyterian stock. Until
his twentieth year he resided with his parents as-
sisting them in the care of the farm. During the
winter months he attended the district school
located near the old home.

From 1856 to 1858 he attended the Greenfield
Academy located at Greenfield, Ohio. In the fall of
1858 he entered the freshman class at Miami Uni-
versity, Oxford, Ohio, and at the close of his junior
year was transformed in the twinkling of an eye
from a student to a soldier.

At the outbreak of the war Oxford was pre-
eminently an educational town, there being located
there the Miami University and three female semi-
naries having in all an attendance of one thousand
students. When the call to arms was sounded Rob-
ern N. Adams was among the first to respond. With
a number of his fellow students he joined the Uni-
versity Rifles. This organization became Company
B of the 20th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in
which company Adams served as a private from
April 18th until mustered out August 18th, 1861.
On the 30th of August, 1861, he was commissioned
captain of Company C, 81st Ohio Volunteer Infantry
with which regiment his military services were
closely identified until the close of the war.

From September 1861 to March 1862, the Regi-
ment served in the Department of Missouri under
General Fremont and was transferred to the Army
of the Tennessee in time to participate in the Battle
of Shiloh, April 6th and 7th, 1862.

The principal battles and operations in which
General Adams participated were Shiloh, Corinth,
Bear Creek, Ringold, Buzzard Roost Gap, Dalton,
Lays Ferry, Resaca, Mariette, Kenesaw Mountain,
Atlanta, Ezra Chapel, Jonesboro, — where he was
wounded and his horse shot,^ — Love Joy Station, the
March to the Sea, Siege of Savanah, Campaign of
the Carolinas, Bentonville, Occupation of Golds-
boro, Advance on Raleigh, March to Washington via
Richmond, and the Grand Review.

He was mustered out July 13, 1865, having
served as private, captain, major, — but not mus-
tered,— lieutenant-colonel, colonel and brevet Briga-
dier-General for a period of four years and three
months.

At the Battle of Shiloh Captain Adams behaved
with conspicuous gallantry, being in command of
the regiment a part of the time fighting on three
parts of the field and capturing a Confederate bat-
tery where now stands a monument to the valor
of his regiment. In the month of May following he
was promoted to Major and Lieutenant-Colonel,
both commissions dating from December 1st, 1861.
August 8th, 1864, he was commissioned Colonel of
his regiment and on the 13th of March 1865 was
breveted Brigadier-General for "meritorious service
during the war."

On the March to the Sea he commanded the
Second Brigade 4th Division, 15th Army Corps, and
for some time prior thereto commanded the Second
Brigade, 2nd Division, 16th Army Corps.

His military career was one of unbroken honor
and distinction. At the time he entered the army
he was in the prime of his young manhood. He was
of fine appearance and soldierly carriage and was
able, without serious interruption, to endure the
hardsliips of active service for more than four
>^ars. His moral character was a fitting comple-

nient to his towering form and it is not probable
that he had his superior in either army as to purity
of purpose and devotion to duty. His courage stood
the severest tests. It was not periodical or of the
blustering type, but steadfast and securely anchored
in a soul that trusted alike in the living God whether
in the storm of battle or in the quiet of the sanc-
tuary.

At the close of the war General Adams entered
upon the study of theology, a design which he had
cherished before entering the war, and in 1869
graduated from the Western Theological Seminary
at Alleghany, Pa. For forty-five years he was a
minister and home missionary in the Presbyterian
Church of the United States of America. His ac-
quaintance extended to all parts of the country,
north, south, east and west. His pastorates were as
follows :

McArthur, Ohio, 1869-1872
Ottawa, Kansas, 1872-1875
Waverly, Ohio, 1876-1880
F'ergus Falls, Minn. 1880-1886

In 1886 he was appointed Superintendent of
Home Missions work in connection with the Pres-
byterian Churcli, which position he held for twenty
3'ears.

In 1906 he was promoted to Field Secretary un-
der the Home Mission Board, and assigned to the
Northwestern district, comprising a number of the
northwestern states including Minnesota.

After five years service he w^as compelled by
reason of illness and advanced age to resign this
important office. He was, however, continued as
Field Secretary Emeritus, and continued to render
such services as his health and strength would per-
mit. On the day of his death he was at his office
as usual busily engaged in the preparation of an im-

portant report connected with the work of the
church, so he died in the harness, the summons
coming without a moment's warning. To him, how-
ever, no notice was necessary for whether in war
or in peace he was always at his post of duty, pre-
pared to Kve or die.

No figure in the Presbyterian Church could bet-
ter represent the idea of militant Christianity than
Rev. Robert N. Adams, D. D., for during his long
service as a leader of the Presbyterian Home Mis-
sion forces in the Northwest he continued an un-
ceasing campaign against all sorts of social evils
and material discouragements.

His promotion to Field Secretary by the Board
of Home Missions after he had reached the age of
seventy, to supervise the work in the Dakotas and
Nebraska, as well as in his own state, was a de-
served promotion on the field for gallantrj', and was
riot less a merit- won honor than his promotions for
gallantry as a soldier

General Adams became a member of the Minne-
sota Commandery of the Loyal Legion April 12th,
1893. He held the office of Chaplain for 16 years,
and was Commander from May 11th, 1897 to May
10th, 1898. His entire official services as an officer
in this Commandery covered a period of 17 years,
which has never been equalled by any other member
of the Commandery. He was a member of John \.
Rawlins Post, Department of Minnesota, Grand
Army of the Republic.

He was married December 27th, 1866, at Athens,
Ohio, to NelHe W. Whipple, who died in 1900.

March 3rd, 1903, he married Mary C. Compton,
a sister of the late Captain James Compton of the
Commandery, who served on the staff of General
Adams as Brigade Inspector. She survives him.

Of the first marriage two daughters were born,
Mrs. Mabel A. Ankeny and Mrs. Maude Waterman,
who survive him; also a grandson, Adams Ankeny.

This Commandery has numbered among its
members many noble spirits, but none of finer mold
and grain than General Robert N. Adams, and it is
with a feeling of deep regret and profound personal
sorrow that we pay this last tribute of love and re-
spect to his memory.

Your Committee respectfully asks that this me-
morial be placed upon tlie records of this Command-
ery and that a copy thereof, duly certified, be sent
to the widow of our deceased companion, with as-
surances of our deep sympathy for her and the sur-
viving children in the sad bereavement that has
come to them and to us.

ELL TORRANCE,
LEWIS A. GRANT,
JAMES H. DAVIDSON,

Committee.

A true copy of the Original Memorial, adopted
by a rising vote of the Commandery of the State of
Minnesota Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the
United States, at a stated meeting held April 14,
1914, at the Ryan Hotel, St. Paul, Minn.

ORTIN S. CLARK,

Recorder.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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