[5] In 1819, the Adams family moved to New Albany, Indiana, where Charles was a clerk in a mercantile house between 1830 and 1835.

[1][2][6] In the early 1840s, Adams entered into a law partnership with William K. Sebastian, who became a United States senator in 1848.

[13] They headed directly for the sound of the firing, lost their way and ended up in a deep ravine from which they had to be extracted to take their place in the line.

[2][15] Adams and his remaining men fell in with Colonel Emmett MacDonald's Brigade of Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke's Division.

[4] Adams then served on the staff of fellow Arkansas citizen Major General Thomas C. Hindman, who commanded a division in the Army of Tennessee.

[2][4][10] Adams served as acting assistant inspector general and chief of staff of the division.

[2][4][16] In his 1887 history of Arkansas, John Hallum says that Adams won a brigadier general commission for his gallantry on the field at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, November 25, 1863.

"[1][4][17] Confederate cavalry Brigadier General Joseph O. Shelby and his adjutant, Major John Newman Edwards each held a low opinion of Adams.

[4] When Shelby operated in this area of Arkansas, he relegated Adams to handling only civil matters.

[17] He attempted to practice law but the local federal military authorities would not permit him to do so because he refused to take the Ironclad oath.

[1][17] There he opened a law practice with former Confederate brigadier general and prominent Freemason, Albert Pike.

[1][17][19][20] Charles William Adams died on September 9, 1878, of yellow fever at Memphis, Tennessee.