Charles W. Adams (1834–1909) was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He entered the Union Army in 1862 as a Colonel and was given command of the 12th Kansas Volunteer Infantry. He led his unit at the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry where he received a gunshot wound in his arm. He mustered out of Union service in 1865 as a Brevet Brigadier General and returned to Lawrence, Kansas. He died in Oakland, California on March 8, 1909.