Adelbert Ames

Medal of Honor recipient, Civil War general, Reconstruction governor, and veteran of two American wars

His first major battle nearly killed him. His last war came thirty-seven years later.

Adelbert Ames was one of the longest-lived and most remarkable Union generals of the American Civil War. Wounded at First Bull Run, promoted for gallantry at Gettysburg and Fort Fisher, elected to the United States Senate, twice governor of Mississippi during Reconstruction, and called back to military service for the Spanish-American War, Ames lived through some of the most turbulent chapters of nineteenth-century American history.

Born on 31 October 1835 in Rockland, Maine, Ames came from a seafaring family. His father, Jesse Ames, was a sea captain, and the younger Ames spent time at sea before entering the United States Military Academy in 1856. He graduated from West Point on 6 May 1861 as the Civil War was beginning and was commissioned into the artillery. Within weeks, the young officer would be tested in battle. [2]

At the First Battle of Bull Run on 21 July 1861, First Lieutenant Ames was serving with the 5th U.S. Artillery when he was severely wounded. Rather than immediately leave the field, he remained with his section of Griffin's Battery and continued directing its fire until his injuries left him too weak to remain upright. He received a brevet promotion to major for gallant and meritorious service at Bull Run, and more than three decades later his conduct that day was recognized with the Medal of Honor. The decoration was presented on 22 June 1894. [1,2]

His Medal of Honor citation reads:

“Remained upon the field in command of a section of Griffin's Battery, directing its fire after being severely wounded and refusing to leave the field until too weak to sit upon the caisson where he had been placed by men of his command.” [1]

Ames recovered and returned to active campaigning. He fought during the Peninsula Campaign and received another brevet promotion for his conduct at Malvern Hill. In August 1862 he became colonel of the newly raised 20th Maine Infantry, leading the regiment during the Maryland Campaign and at Antietam. Promoted brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers in May 1863, he soon commanded a brigade in the XI Corps. At Gettysburg, after Brigadier General Francis Barlow was wounded, Ames assumed command of the division and took part in the defense of Cemetery Hill. His service there brought a brevet promotion to colonel for gallant and meritorious conduct. [2,3]

The war was far from finished for Ames. He later commanded brigades and divisions during operations around Petersburg and participated in both expeditions against Fort Fisher, the powerful Confederate stronghold guarding Wilmington, North Carolina. On 15 January 1865, approximately 4,200 soldiers of Ames's division moved against the fort during the successful Union assault. His role in its capture brought promotion to brevet major general of U.S. Volunteers for gallant and meritorious service. On 13 March 1865 he was also brevetted major general in the Regular Army for gallant and meritorious service in the field during the rebellion. [2,4]

Peace brought Ames into an equally difficult arena. During Reconstruction he served in Mississippi, first in military administration and then as provisional governor from 1868 to 1870. After Mississippi was readmitted to representation in Congress, Ames served as a Republican United States senator before winning election as governor in 1873 and taking office in 1874. He became closely associated with the Radical Republican wing of Mississippi politics and supported Black suffrage during a period of intense political and racial conflict. [5,6]

The struggle over Reconstruction reached a crisis during the elections of 1875. Mississippi History Now, published by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, records that White Democrats used violence, murder, fraud, and intimidation against Black voters as they regained control of the legislature and county governments. When the new legislature convened in 1876, impeachment proceedings were brought against Ames and other Republican officials. The same state historical source describes the proceedings against Ames as politically motivated. A compromise was ultimately reached under which Ames resigned on 29 March 1876 and the charges against him were dropped. [5]

Ames had married Blanche Butler in 1870. She was the daughter of his former commander, Union general and Massachusetts politician Benjamin F. Butler. Adelbert and Blanche Ames had six children, including Blanche Ames Ames, who became an artist, inventor, and prominent advocate for women's suffrage. After leaving Mississippi, Ames pursued business interests, including flour milling and manufacturing, and eventually made his home in Massachusetts. [6]

Then, at an age when most veterans had long since retired from military life, Ames went back to war.

In June 1898, at sixty-two years old, he was appointed brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers during the Spanish-American War. He commanded the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, V Corps during the operations around Santiago de Cuba and remained there through 7 August 1898. He subsequently commanded troops at Montauk Point and other posts before being honorably discharged from volunteer service on 3 January 1899. [2]

Ames's verified ribbon entitlement reflects both ends of his extraordinary military career. In addition to his Medal of Honor, his service supports entitlement to the Civil War Campaign Medal, the Spanish Campaign Medal, and the Army of Cuban Occupation Medal. These campaign medals were later-authorized recognitions of earlier military service. The National Archives notes that the War Department created a number of such campaign medals between 1905 and 1919 for service extending back to the Civil War and Spanish-American War era. [7]

Adelbert Ames lived to the age of ninety-seven. Even the date of his death contains a small archival disagreement. The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress and Mississippi History Now give 12 April 1933, while the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and Cullum's Register record 13 April 1933. All agree that he died at his winter home in Ormond, Florida, and was buried in the Hildreth Family Cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts. [1,2,5,6]

From the gun line at Bull Run to the defenses of Gettysburg, from the ramparts of Fort Fisher to Reconstruction Mississippi and finally Santiago de Cuba, Adelbert Ames followed an extraordinary path through American military and political history. His Medal of Honor preserved the memory of one moment of battlefield courage, but his full career stretched across nearly four decades of war, command, public office, controversy, and national change.

Sources

[1] Congressional Medal of Honor Society, “Adelbert Ames.”

[2] Cullum's Register of United States Military Academy Graduates, Adelbert Ames, Class of May 6, 1861.

[3] National Park Service, Gettysburg National Military Park, Army of the Potomac Order of Battle.

[4] North Carolina Historic Sites, Fort Fisher, Second Attack and Union Command Gallery.

[5] Mississippi History Now, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, “Adelbert Ames: Twenty-seventh and Thirtieth Governor of Mississippi.”

[6] Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, “Ames, Adelbert,” reproduced by the U.S. Government Publishing Office.

[7] National Archives and Records Administration, “Pre-World War I Army Medals.”

[8] U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry and Army Regulation 600-8-22, criteria for United States Army campaign and service medals.