John Adams is best remembered as one of the four Confederate generals who lay on the porch of the Carnton House, dead, when the Battle of Franklin ended on December 1, 1864. Unfortunately he did not leave much in the way of personal papers, and this biography has been pieced together from Army records and other sources, including accounts of his contemporaries.
Adams’s career in the U.S. Army gives us a good look at the military, the concept of Manifest Destiny, and the relations with those conquered by the Army, the Indians. This book also considers one of the more debated topics in Civil War history: why did a man who served the United States for most of his life resign his commission and side with the Confederacy?

Adjunct professor Leslie R. Tucker lives in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Leslie R. Tucker
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 248
Bibliographic Info: 25 photos, maps, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2014
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7484-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0634-7
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Preface  1
Introduction  5
One. The Beginnings  19
Two. The Mexican War  40
Three. New Mexico Territory  76
Four. Minnesota  101
Five. Return to New Mexico  113
Six. California  130
Seven. War Begins  149
Eight. The Final Stage  181
Nine. Conclusions  203
Chapter Notes  207
Bibliography  219
Index  229

“detailed, documented, impressively well written…highly recommended”—Midwest Book Review.