Zabdiel Boylston Adams

Dr. Zabdiel Boylston Adams Jr. (October 25, 1829 – May 1, 1902) was an American Civil War surgeon and a graduate of Harvard Medical School (Class of 1853).

Biography Adams Jr. was the son of Zabdiel Boylston Adams and Sarah May Holland. His siblings included Annie Adams Fields. He married Frances Ann Kidder and had two children. Zabdiel Adams initially attended Harvard College, but graduated from Bowdoin in 1849. He then entered Harvard Medical School and graduated with an M.D. in 1853.

In May 1861, he was commissioned an Assistant Surgeon in the 7th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He served with the 7th at the battles of Yorktown, Williamsburg, and Fair Oaks. On May 26, 1862, he was commissioned as Head Surgeon for the 32nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Adams, according to his great-grandson Mitchell L. Adams, a former member of Harvard's Board of Overseers, labored so long in surgeries at the Battle of Gettysburg — remaining on duty for two days and three nights — that he temporarily became blind with exhaustion. Although he regained his sight, he was discharged. He fought hard to get back into the surgical corps after being mustered out, to no avail. By 1864, Adams resorted to an unusual ploy to extend his service. He gave up battlefield medicine and rejoined the army as an infantry officer, a captain, with the 56th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He died after falling over the Metropolitan Water Works dam in Southborough in 1902 and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Memorial There is a memorial plaque to Adams mounted on a boulder on the Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Of over 2,000 memorials there, it is the only one dedicated to a physician. The text reads: