 Adams was born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Though under the minimum age , he enlisted in a Pennsylvania regiment in the United States Army in 1861 , and served for three months before returning to school . He reenlisted in 1863 when Robert E. Lee 's forces invaded Pennsylvania , and afterwards entered the Quartermaster 's Department of the Army , where he served until 1871 . He then worked as a merchant for several years . He read law and became a lawyer in Philadelphia in 1878 . He was thereafter in private practice in New York City from 1883 to 1901 , specializing in admiralty law at the firm of Beebe & Wilcox ; after the death of Judge Beebe in 1884 , he became a name partner and the firm was renamed Wilcox , Adams & Green . There , he litigated before the Supreme Court of the United States in admiralty cases such as The Kate . Adams was Secretary of the Union League Club of New York in 1894 and 1895 . 
