Adam J. Weaver
Franklin Mills (Kent), Ohio
b. 1845 d. 1922
Weaver could not wait until his 18th birthday to enlist, so in 1862 he lied about his age and joined Co. I of the 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry as a 17-year-old private.
Weaver and the 104th saw sporadic action during 1863, but in 1864 it became part of Sherman’s army during the campaign to take Atlanta.
Weaver wrote thoughtful letters to his 16-year-old sweetheart back home, Charlotte Morton. The letters supposedly were in code, allowing them to talk openly about a variety of subjects. None of the original letters survive, however.
Weaver at Franklin, Tenn.
After Sherman took Atlanta, he sent 35,000 soldiers northward to protect Nashville, Tenn. from Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood. Weaver and the 104th were among those troops.
On Nov. 30, 1864 at Franklin, Tenn., 18 miles south of Nashville, Hood caught up with the Northern army and engaged it in a bloody five-hour battle that would change the course of the war in the West. The South lost 6,000 men, including a number of generals, during the fight, which lasted until well after dark.
Weaver’s accounts of the battle, the death of his company’s captain, and the search for wounded soldiers after the fight are among the most compelling of the war.
After the battle of Franklin, the 104th Ohio was moved to North Carolina to help put down remaining Rebel resistance there. While moving through a swamp to engage an enemy unit, Weaver was shot in the thigh and almost drowned. He was moved to a nearby field hospital where both the regimental chaplain and surgeon told Weaver his leg would have to be amputated.
Keeps His Leg
Weaver implored them to give him a few hours to gain strength. They agreed, and Weaver was able to keep his leg, although he walked with a limp the rest of his life.
After the war, Weaver married Charlotte and worked as a carpenter. He died in 1922. He and Charlotte are buried in Standing Rock Cemetery in Kent, Ohio.
