William C. Adams was born around 1824 in Tennessee to Peter and Sarah Adams. By the early 1860s, he was living in Texas. He married Mary Ann Arnold in April 1861, and they had at least four children: Sarah, born around 1862; Margaret, born around 1864; William, born around 1868; and Henry, born around 1876.
In the spring of 1861, he received a commission as a captain in Company C of the 2nd Texas Cavalry. The regiment took part in the New Mexico campaign, and it spent most of the war stationed in Texas. He remained in the army until at least April 1862.
He settled in San Felipe, Texas, after the war, and he worked as a farmer. By 1870, he owned $3,000 of real estate and $20,000 of personal property. They moved to San Antonio, Texas, in the 1870s, and he worked as a stock raiser there. He died on October 26, 1880.