Surgeon and Soldier for the Union
Stories Behind the Stones : Zabdiel Boylston Adams , MD
By Mitchell Adams
Surgeon and Soldier for the Union
My great-grandfather Zabdiel Boylston Adams followed the path of his forebears in attending Harvard College . Unlike his forbearers , however , he was expelled from Harvard for complicity in a prank and was subsequently “ rusticated ” to Bowdoin . After graduating from Harvard Medical School in 1853 , he traveled to Paris for post-graduate study in medicine . But certainly his most extraordinary life experience was his Civil War service .
Zabdiel felt an intense , even fanatic , commitment to the Union cause , and enlisted immediately after the firing on Fort Sumter . Serving all four years of war , he was wounded repeatedly but always managed to re-enlist . He would later describe his “ service in the Civil War in defense of the certainty and unity of the nation and the overthrow of a despotic and inhumane oligarchy ” as the highlight of his life .
His fervent patriotism stemmed from his identity and his close kinship with some of America ’ s founding fathers . His great-grandfather was John Adams ’ s double first cousin , and Samuel Adams , “ the Firebrand of the Revolution ,” was a first cousin several times removed . Zabdiel ’ s opposition to slavery reflected his roots in abolitionist Boston . His sister Annie Adams Fields was Harriet Beecher Stowe ’ s biographer and close friend . Annie ’ s husband James Fields , a prominent Boston publisher and editor , was the first to publish Julia Ward Howe ’ s “ Battle Hymn of the Republic ” in 1862 .
Upon his enlistment , Zabdiel became Assistant Surgeon in the 7th Massachusetts Volunteers Brigade . He served in some of costliest battles of the war , including Antietam and Gettysburg , where he set up his operating tables at the very edge of the “ Bloody Wheatfield .” Here he toiled non-stop for two days and three nights . At the end of this ordeal , he collapsed , blinded from stress and exhaustion . Among Gettysburg ’ s 1,000 monuments , only one is dedicated to a physician : the plaque cites the wisdom and heroism of Dr . Zabdiel Boylston Adams for operating at the very edge of the battlefield , avoiding much loss of life .
Because his impaired eyesight compromised his surgical ability after Gettysburg , Zabdiel was commissioned as a
Zabdiel Boylston Adams ( 1829-1902 ) © Harvard Medical Library in the Francis A . Countway Library of Medicine
Zabdiel Boylston Adams , Surgeon , 32nd Regiment , Massachusetts ; 56th Regiment , Massachusetts is buried in Lot 2700 on Elder Path at Mount Auburn Cemetery .
Captain in the infantry and fought in the Battle of the Wilderness . His company lost 20 of its 45 men to death or capture . He himself was badly wounded , captured , and imprisoned for months . Amid squalid prison conditions , he saved his own gangrenous leg by pouring pure nitric acid into the open wound .
His final combat experience occurred in the spring of 1865 in the 2nd Battle of Petersburg , where he was once again wounded . Shortly thereafter , in the second week of April , he witnessed Lee ’ s surrender at the Appomattox Courthouse .
The succeeding chapters of his life were considerably less dramatic . In 1867 , he co-founded the Roxbury Society for Medical Improvement , which meets regularly to this day . He moved to Framingham , Massachusetts , and practiced as a country doctor with long hours and little or no pay . He was an active leader in medical and civic affairs , helping to found the town ’ s hospital and library , where his portrait hangs today . He championed vaccination and served on the Framingham Board of Health and as Medical Examiner . The Massachusetts Medical Society elected him Vice-President and in 1897 asked that he serve as “ Orator of the Annual Discourse .”
In a manuscript summarizing his life ,
Zabdiel wrote , “ War is for beasts . There should never be another one on earth .”
Mitchell Adams is a former member of Harvard University ’ s Board of Overseers and recently retired after 10 years as executive director of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative , an independent public agency dedicated to the formation , retention , and expansion of technology-related enterprises in Massachusetts . He received both his bachelor ’ s degree ( 1966 ) and his M . B . A . ( 1969 ) from Harvard .
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