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Franklin Epp Adams
Son of Jesse Adams and Lettice Christian Collier-Adams, Franklin Epp Adams, known to friends and family as “Frank”, was born about 1836 in Carnesville (Franklin County), Georgia.
On September, 18, 1859, Franklin Epp Adams married Mary Eliza (or “Elizabeth”) Brown (born May 13, 1842 in Franklin County, Georgia - died Oct. 23, 1910 in Stephens County Georgia).1)2)
The “War of Northern Aggression”
On January 19, 1861, 293 delegates to the Georgia Secession Convention at the statehouse in Milledgeville, Georgia, met to vote on the “Ordinance of Secession” (to announce Georgia's formal secession from the United States of America). The vote was 208 yeas 89 nays on January 19, 1861 to ratify the “Ordinance of Secession”. The “Ordinance of Secession” was signed on January 21, 1861 and enacted on January 22, 1861.3) This was followed by the “Georgia Declaration of Secession” listing the causes leading to the secession.
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The term “War of Northern Aggression” is used here because that is likely what the war was called by our Southern ancestors (or “War for Southern Independence”). While the term “Civil War” was used by Abraham Lincoln during multiple occasions – and the U.S. Supreme Court (The Brig Amy Warwick, et al., 67 U.S. 635, 636, 673 (1862)) during the war, it is entirely incorrect.
A civil war is a war between citizens of the same state contending for control of the same government. The war between the North and South was the war of the North against a separate government, that as long as it lasted was a de facto nation, exercising all the powers of an independent government. The term “civil war” concedes all that the North ever claimed, makes [the South] guilty of treason, and is untrue to the facts in the case. [The] term “civil war,” while incorrect as a simple definition of the struggle, does a gross injustice to the South by degrading her struggle for a national existence into a partisan conflict. I never use it and mark it out of every book where I find it. Let history tell the truth.
Rev. S.A. Steel, Jackson, Tenn.
Source: “The Phrase “Civil War,” Confederate Veteran, July 1912, pg. 347
Officially, the U.S. Congress used the term “The War between the States” in a report to the Senate on joint resolution No. 41, printed in the Congressional Record of March 2, 1928, on page 4061. However, the National Park Service, the government organization entrusted by the United States Congress to preserve the battlefields of the war, uses the term “Civil War”.
Shortly after the beginning of the “War of Northern Aggression”, Franklin Epp Adams volunteered to serve in the Confederate 34th Infantry Regiment, Co. G (probably on May 12, 1862 in Carnsville (Franklin County), Georgia).4) Anderson Smith Randal and Elisha (Eli) W. Mitchell (sometimes appearing as Mitchael) also served in this Regiment.
[![The 34th GA flag is seventy-two and one-half inches by 33 inches. There are three strips of white silk. Each strip is 11 inches wide. They are hand stitched together. The twenty-two inch canton has in the center one gold star with a red dot; above and below the star are two gloves, one pointing up and one pointing down. Each has a gold heart embroidered on the back of it. There are ten other gold stars with red dots in the center. A green wreath and red flowers circle the ten stars. It is patterned exactly after the original. \\ Source: [[http://www.battleofraymond.org/flag.htm|http://www.battleofraymond.org/flag.htm]]](/lib/exe/detail.php?id=franklin_epp_adams&media=anderson_smith_randal:confederate_34th_regimental_infantry_flag2.jpg "The 34th GA flag is seventy-two and one-half inches by 33 inches. There are three strips of white silk. Each strip is 11 inches wide. They are hand stitched together. The twenty-two inch canton has in the center one gold star with a red dot; above and below the star are two gloves, one pointing up and one pointing down. Each has a gold heart embroidered on the back of it. There are ten other gold stars with red dots in the center. A green wreath and red flowers circle the ten stars. It is patterned exactly after the original. \\ Source: [[http://www.battleofraymond.org/flag.htm|http://www.battleofraymond.org/flag.htm]]")
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The Georgia 34th Infantry Regiment
[![The 34th Georgia Infantry Regimental Flag. At right is Jerry Bishop, the great-great-grandson of 2nd Sgt. John T. Hasty of the 34th GA, Co. B. Pictured on the left is Morgan Adams, the great-great-great-great-grandson of 2nd Sgt. Hasty. \\ Source: [[http://www.battleofraymond.org/flag.htm|http://www.battleofraymond.org/flag.htm]]](/lib/exe/detail.php?id=franklin_epp_adams&media=anderson_smith_randal:confederate_34th_regimental_infantry_flag.jpg "The 34th Georgia Infantry Regimental Flag. At right is Jerry Bishop, the great-great-grandson of 2nd Sgt. John T. Hasty of the 34th GA, Co. B. Pictured on the left is Morgan Adams, the great-great-great-great-grandson of 2nd Sgt. Hasty. \\ Source: [[http://www.battleofraymond.org/flag.htm|http://www.battleofraymond.org/flag.htm]]")
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Organized in May, 1862, at Camp McDonald, near Marietta, Georgia, the 34th Infantry Regiment recruited its members in the counties of Bartow, Cherokee, Floyd, Franklin, Polk, Cobb, Paulding, Carroll, Haralson, and Jackson. The unit was sent to Tennessee, then Mississippi where it was assigned to T.H. Taylor's Brigade, Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana. It participated in the battle at Champion's Hill (which the Confederates referred to as “The Battle of Baker's Creek”) and was captured at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863. Exchanged and reorganized, the 34th Infantry Regiment was placed in General Cummings' Brigade, Army of Tennessee. The 34th was active in many engagements from Chattanooga to Nashville, and ended the war in North Carolina. It reported 34 casualties at Chattanooga, contained 369 men and 266 arms in December, 1863, and had 219 fit for duty in January, 1865. Very few surrendered in April. The field commanders were Colonel J.A.W. Johnson, Lieutenant Colonel J.W. Bradley, and Majors Thomas T. Dorough and John M. Jackson.
Muster Roll of Company G, 34th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry.
Champion Hill (Bakers Creek)
Campaign: Grant's Operations Against Vicksburg
Date(s): March-July 1863
Principal Commanders:
Lieutenant General Ulysses Grant [US]
Lieutenant General John Pemberton [CS]
Following the Union occupation of Jackson, Mississippi, both Confederate and Federal forces made plans for future operations. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston (CSA) retreated, with most of his army, up the Canton Road, but he ordered Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton (CSA), commanding about 23,000 men, to leave Edwards Station and attack the Federals at Clinton.
Pemberton and his generals felt that Johnston's plan was dangerous and decided instead to attack the Union supply trains moving from Grand Gulf to Raymond. On May 16, though, Pemberton received another order from Johnston repeating his former directions. Pemberton had already started after the supply trains and was on the Raymond-Edwards Road with his rear at the crossroads one-third mile south of the crest of Champion Hill. Thus, when he ordered a countermarch, his rear, including his many supply wagons, became the advance of his force.
On May 16, 1863, about 7:00 am, the Union forces engaged the Confederates and the “Battle of Champion Hill” (Union) / “Bakers Creek” (CSA) began. Pemberton's force drew up into a defensive line along a crest of a ridge overlooking Jackson Creek. Pemberton was unaware that one Union column was moving along the Jackson Road against his unprotected left flank. For protection, Pemberton posted Brig. Gen. Stephen D. Lee's men atop Champion Hill where they could watch for the reported Union column moving to the crossroads. Lee spotted the Union troops and they soon saw him. If this force was not stopped, it would cut the Confederate forces off from their Vicksburg base. Pemberton received warning of the Union movement and sent troops to his left flank. Union forces at the Champion House moved into action and emplaced artillery to begin firing. When Grant arrived at Champion Hill, around 10:00 am, he ordered the attack to begin. By 11:30 am, Union forces had reached the Confederate main line – and about 1:00 pm, they took the crest while the Confederate forces retired in disorder. The Federals advanced, capturing the crossroads and closing the Jackson Road escape route.
One of Pemberton's divisions (Bowen's) then counterattacked, pushing the Federals back beyond the Champion Hill crest before their surge came to a halt. Grant then counter-attacked, committing forces that had just arrived from Clinton by way of Bolton. Pemberton's men could not stand up to this assault, so he ordered his men from the field to the one escape route still open: the Raymond Road crossing of Bakers Creek. CSA Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman's brigade formed the rearguard, and they held at all costs, including the loss of Tilghman. In the late afternoon, Union troops seized the Bakers Creek Bridge, and by midnight, they occupied Edwards. The Confederate forces were forced to retreat towards Vicksburg.
Results: Union Victory / Confederate Defeat
Estimated Casualties: 6,281 total (US 2,441; CS 3,840)
Franklin Epp Adams was wounded and captured during the “Battle of Champion Hill” on May 16, 1863 at Baker's Creek, MS. He died that same day, and was buried in the “Champion Hill Burial Ground” located in Champion Hill (Hinds County), Mississippi.5)
Georgia Casualties at Champion Hill.
The entire Regiment may have been captured, as both Anderson Smith Randal and Elisha (Eli) W. Mitchell were also among those captured on May 16, 1863 by Union forces.
