Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County

Adams Men at Shiloh

In July 1861 President Lincoln called for 500,000 men to join the fight in the War of the Rebellion. In August 1861 253 young men from 34 Adams County towns and townships answered the call. Within seven months, 160 more joined them to fight at the bloodiest battle of the Civil War to date, the Battle of Shiloh.

Shiloh:
‘horrible beyond description’

When their president called, nearly 400 young patriots from 25 towns and townships of Adams County  enlisted in the Union Army within only five days in August 1861.

With more soon joining them, 413 on April 6, 1862, were on the battlefield at Shiloh, in southwestern Tennessee. They had been among the victors at Ft. Henry and Ft. Donelson in February. Two months later they were engaged in some of the most intensive fighting in the first major battle of the Civil War at Shiloh. Some 79 of them, including their commanding officer, Colonel Moses M. Bane of Payson, fell casualties of war within the first 15 minutes of battle.

By the end of the war 838 Adams County men had joined their brothers and neighbors in the 50th Illinois Infantry. For the 50th, the fighting did not let up. Neither did their courage. Many gave what President Lincoln acknowledged at Gettysburg was the “last full measure of Devotion” to their country and its cause.

We honor these valorous young men of Adams County.

View the Names
of the Adams Men

Click below for:
          The names of Adams men.
          A search engine on the
               Secretary of State’s
               Civil War database.

How to search the names of the Adams men:  When at the honor page of names, hold down the Ctrl key, then hit the F key. Enter your soldier’s last name in the search field and hit the Enter key.

  The Battle    The Battlefield    The Exhibit    Brochure
   The complete 1862 Diary of Private Edward H. Warden

Adams Men at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee