In his early 20s, Charles, who was serving as a law clerk in New York, moved in with Baron Friedrich von Steuben, the Revolutionary War hero who was 40 years older than Charles. Von Steuben had come to America in 1777, dogged by rumors that “he took familiarities with young boys.” He arrived with his handsome 17-year-old interpreter and shipmate, whom Washington soon had to replace for incompetence on military matters with his own aides, Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens. Von Steuben then formally adopted two young soldiers he was fond of: William North, who became the baron’s aide-de-camp, and Benjamin Walker.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in American History magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

To his mother Charles was almost rapturous in describing von Steuben as “fascinating, there is something in this man that is more than mortal.” Charles was “grief-stricken” when von Steuben moved to his farm in upstate New York, and in 1795, a year after the baron’s death, Charles married, to his family’s palpable relief. Nabby wrote that at last Charles was “safe-landed,” though his parents were not keen on his having married Sarah Smith, the sister of Nabby’s hated husband William. One can only speculate why Charles married Sarah. The union produced two daughters, but it appears that the only time Charles had been truly happy, or at least reasonably calm for any period of time, was when he was living with von Steuben.

Some historians believe that Charles was homosexual, and that this ultimately caused an insurmountable rift with his father. In 1799 John Adams renounced his second son, ceasing all correspondence with him and describing him as “a mere rake, buck, blood and beast.” Having sunk deeper into alcoholism and debt, Charles abandoned his wife and children; his irate father wrote that he had become “a madman possessed of the devil” and began destroying Charles’ letters and papers. This was an astounding act, for John and Abigail had always insisted that their children keep diaries, and the family was renowned for their voluminous correspondence. Biographer Ferling notes that “virtually the sole portion of Adams’ vast correspondence that was apparently not preserved for posterity related to Charles.”

Charles died in 1800 at the age of 30. Younger brother Thomas wrote, “Let silence reign forever over his tomb,” and it has: Charles was not buried in the family plot, and the National Park Service, which administers the Adams National Historical Park in Massachusetts, believes he lies “somewhere in New York.”

Younger brother Thomas Boylston Adams had a casual, affable disposition and a great love of nature. He, too, was left in the care of relatives for years while his parents were away doing the nation’s business abroad or in the capital. When Thomas was 12, Abigail wrote that he was “a rogue who loves his birds and doves.” Yet his parents continued to pressure him to enter the family business of law and politics, despite the objections of John Quincy and others. A particularly unjust reprimand from Abigail, who assumed Thomas was being lazy and rowdy, brought a rare rebuttal from John Quincy, who had taken to refusing to answer his parents’ overbearing missives. In her equally rare “apology,” Abigail claimed to have been misunderstood. But she gratuitously added her fervent wish to be spared “the blight of undutiful and vicious children” and ended the letter with a sermon on virtue.

Thomas was shy, gentle and wholly unprepared for the rough-and-tumble life of law and politics. He was also burdened by many physical ailments. Despite some promising early successes, his failure at law brought alcoholism and total dependence on his parents. Thomas, his wife and seven children (none of whom ever married) all moved in with John and Abigail, and they stayed in the family home until Thomas’ death from alcoholism at the age of 59. By then what had once been described as his affable disposition had soured to the point that his nephew Charles Francis Adams called Thomas “one of the most unpleasant characters in this world…a brute in manners and a bully in his family.” Yet unlike Charles, he was buried without any overt hint of disgrace or secrecy.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to