Hello Ed,

Good to see a posting from you. I googled "55th Mass" and was surprised at the number of pages that appeared with information on the 55th Mass Infantry Regiment.

Nelson Adams may have been among the group from Illinois, Indiana & Ohio that got to Readville, Mass to late for enlistment into the 54th Mass Infantry Regiment and were placed into the 55th Mass. Among those placed in the 55th Mass with Nelson Adams was Joshua Dunbar, father of Paul Lawrence Dunbar, who volunteered from Troy, Ohio.

For starters, in case you haven't seen it, Bennie McRae has on his site a very nice article about the 55t Mass by Katherine Dhalle.
http://people.coax.net/lwf/55HIST.HTM

Oh, I see there is even a Facebook group for the 55th Mass Infantry Regiment.

Best Wishes,
Art Thomas