A fifer in Co. K of the 5th Maine Regiment, William Bryant Adams (1842-1922) was the second eldest of six children of Isaac and Lydia Bryant Adams of Auburn.
William joined the 5th Maine Regiment on June 24, 1861. He was 18. He received the rank of "full fifer." He mustered out on July 27, 1864 and was transferred on that date to the 1st Maine Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment, made up of the 5th Maine, 6th Maine and 7th Maine infantry regiments, when those regiments served their allotted number of years.
Isaac Adams was a house carpenter and his son joined him in that venture after the war. He lived with his parents, even after he married in 1880. By 1900, his parents had moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, and William and Hattie continued to live in Auburn and William continued to work as a carpenter. They had three children.
Throughout the war, Adams wrote letters home, many of them addressed to his sister Dora (Dorothy K. Adams). He described the duties of the musicians, life in army camps, and some of the difficult marches and battles.
