I did not have far or long to look, because, being the junior officer of the garrison I could displace no other, and besides, there was but one casemate available for me to choose from . . .   A good sweeping and a little glazing of broken windows made it quite comfortable. I took a share in an active young Irishman, wild and fresh from the Emerald Isle, whom two or three officers had in common as a servant. He soon had a roaring fire in my open grate and this quickly ate up the mould and moisture incident to a casemate long out of use.- Lieutenant John C. Tidball, circa. 1848

Other officers during this period were less pleased with casemate quarters. Casemates, after all, were designed to house cannons, not people. Less than a year before Tidball’s arrival at Fort Adams, General Winfield Scott had petitioned Congress to build more comfortable quarters for officers serving in coastal fortifications, describing the “most unwholesome casemates” as “miserable places”.

[ Along Bottom of Marker : ]1900 Census snapshot of life in Fort Adams:

1 Colonel • 6 Captains • 3 Lieutenants • 38 Sergeants • 39 Corporals • 269 Privates • 7 Cooks • 10 Musicians • 4 Mechanics • 2 Hospital Stewards • 27 Wives • 95 Children • 2 Mothers • 1 Sisiter • 21 Servants • 10 Miscellaneous

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535 Residents Total

Fort Adams Cemetery Contains

158 Men • 33 Women • 81 Children • 15 Unknown

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287 Deaths Total

Marker can be reached from Fort Adams Drive, on the left when traveling north.

Courtesy hmdb.org

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