Charles Adams (1845-1864) was the son of Charles and Julia Hinman Adams and grandson of Joseph and Deborah Marsh Adams. He was born in Litchfield. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted in the 19th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers in 1862. On June 11, 1864, he died of wounds received on June 1 during the Battle of Cold Harbor. During the war, Adams regularly wrote letters to his parents and sisters. He recorded his thoughts about Generals McClellan, Burnside, and Grant, and President Lincoln; life in camp (maintaining and outfitting tents, sleeping arrangements, food, prayer meetings, entertainments and lectures, snowball battles); support for the Emancipation Proclamation; his belief in the cause; postings, guard duty, inspections, and drills; encouraging enlistment; speculation about duration of war and upcoming military activities; his cousin, Charles Hinman Graves, and other relatives he sees; the 40th N.Y. and Bull Run; African-American dock and government stores workers; guarding “contrabands” (freed or former enslaved people) from Virginia and Maryland; news of other Litchfield residents; politics in Connecticut; and the weather.