Winborn Adams

Lt. Winborn Adams, 2nd Regiment, New Hampshire Continental Line

He was the son of Dr. Samuel Adams and his wife Phebe Chesley. He married Sarah Bartlett.

Winborn Adams was commissioned as a Captain in the 2nd New Hampshire Regiment on May 23, 1775. His residence is given as Durham, New Hampshire.

On January 1, 1776, Captain Adams was commissioned as a Captain with duties as a Company Commander in the 8th Continental Infantry (the temporary designation for the Second Regiment, New Hampshire Continental Line). On November 8, 1776, Captain Adams was promoted to Major in the Second New Hampshire. Major Adams was further promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the Second New Hampshire on April 2, 1777. In this role he was the Deputy Commander of the Regiment.

During the Battle of Bemis Heights (Part of the Battles of Saratoga), he was killed in action on September 19, 1777.

In December of 1780, the New Hampshire General Assembly voted to grant his widow, Sarah, a pension for one half of his pay as a Lieutenant Colonel for seven years. On September 5, 1782, Sarah was forced to write to inquire about her payment. She was paid small sums with no interest.

Eventually, her son, Samuel Adams, petitioned on behalf of his mother in late 1784. At some point she was granted the monies that were due to her in the amount of $2,520.00 from the United States government.

As stated above, Lieutenant Colonel Wilborn Adams’ son was Lieutenant Samuel Adams who became one of the original 30 members of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Hampshire on November 18, 1783.

Sources: Stackpole and Thompson, History of the Town of Durham, New Hampshire (Durham, 1913), 2:6-7; Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army, (Baltimore, 1914), 361; The State of New Hampshire, Rolls of the Soldiers in the Revolutionary War, Volume XVI, (Manchester, 1887), 322, 349; The New Hampshire Genealogical Society, The New Hampshire Genealogical Record: Volume VI, (Dover, 1909); The Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Volume XVII: Transaction 1913-1914, (Boston, 1915), 276, 278; Walter Lourie and Walter S. Franklin (United States Congress), American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the United States Congress, Volume 1 comprising from the First Session of the First to the Second Session of the Seventeenth Congress, inclusive: commencing March 4, 1789, and ending March 3, 1823, (Washington, D.C, 1834), 72; Selected Wartime Service Records of Lieutenant Colonel Winborn Adams.