He commanded the 81st Ohio Infantry Regiment throughout the later years of the war and participated in the Federal Penetration up the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers and the Atlanta campaign.

Robert was born on September 15, 1835, at Fayette County, Ohio as the son of Fayette County, Ohio as the son of Albert Adams and Nancy Verdie Coffey Adams as well as a descendant of the Douglas family.

[1] Adams spent his childhood at his parents barn before attending the Greenfield School there.

[1] In 1858, he enrolled in Miami University but during his junior year, the American Civil War broke out.

Adams was then made Superintendent of Home Missions in 1886 and would hold that position for 21 years.