A Civil War Vet Finally Gets His Headstone

A British-born veteran of the US Civil War is finally receiving long-overdue recognition nearly a century after his passing. Pvt. Stephen T. Adams, a London native who served with the Union’s Mississippi Marine Brigade, had rested in an unmarked grave in England since his death in 1929, according to Stars and Stripes. Today, his gravesite at Hendon Cemetery in London now bears a proper headstone, provided by the US Veterans Administration and made possible by the dedicated research of British historian Michael Hammerson.

Born in 1845, Adams moved to America as a child and enlisted in the Union Army in 1864. His service was cut short after he contracted dysentery from drinking Mississippi River water, leading to his discharge. After the war, he settled in Illinois, where he married, raised a son, and worked as a teacher. In 1904, however, he left his family amid what were described as mental health struggles—issues Hammerson believes may have been early signs of what is now recognized as post-traumatic stress disorder. Adams later lived in a home for disabled veterans before returning to London, where he died in 1929.

Adams is one of more than 1,200 Union veterans now documented as being buried in the UK by the Ensign John Davis Camp, the only Sons of Union Veterans group located outside the United States. “An omission which we are here today to put right,” said camp commander Matthew O’Neill during a weekend ceremony marking the installation of Adams’ new headstone. Just last month, two additional Civil War veterans received headstones at their gravesites in Derby, England, according to the BBC.

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