Charles W. Adams

Who was Charles W. Adams?

Charles William Adams was a Confederate States Army colonel during the American Civil War. In 1864, he was commander of the Confederate Northern Sub-District of Arkansas, within the Union Army lines. He had the title, although not the formal rank, of "acting brigadier general." He was not officially appointed by Confederate President Jefferson Davis and confirmed by the Confederate States Senate to brigadier general grade, even though some sources identify him as a brigadier general.

Adams was a planter, lawyer and judge before the war and a lawyer after the war. As a delegate to the Arkansas secession convention, he was an ardent secessionist. He was a law partner of United States Senator William K. Sebastian before the war and of Confederate brigadier general and Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite of Freemasons Southern Jurisdiction, Albert Pike, after the war. He was a grandfather of Helen Keller.

Adams is not to be confused with Colonel Charles W. Adams of the Union Army's 12th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry.