Ebenezer Stevens
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Ebenezer Stevens | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Lithograph of Stevens | |
| Born | August 11, 1751 |
| Died | September 2, 1823 (aged 72) |
| Occupations | General, merchant |
| Spouses | Rebecca Hodgden
(m. 1774, died)Lucretia Ledyard Sands
(m. 1784) |
| Children | 11, including Alexander, John |
| Relatives | Byam K. Stevens (grandson) John A. Stevens Jr. (grandson) Edith Wharton (great granddaughter) |
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Ebenezer Stevens (August 11, 1751 – September 2, 1823) was a lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, a major general in the New York state militia, and a New York City merchant.
Stevens was born on August 11, 1751, in Roxbury in what was then the Province of Massachusetts Bay in British America.[1] He was the son of Ebenezer Stevens (1726–1763) and Elizabeth (née Weld) Stevens (b. 1727), and his paternal grandfather was Erasmus Stevens, a native of Boston,[2] a lieutenant with the Military Company of the Massachusetts.[3]
Career
Ebenezer Stevens was a participant in what became known as the Boston Tea Party. A member of the Sons of Liberty, he began his career in Paddock's Artillery Company along with the likes of Paul Revere and Thomas Crafts.[4] Together with other members of the company, and under the leadership of Jabez Hatch, he participated in the Boston Tea Party. His later recollections to his family debunked the myth that the participants had dressed up as Native Americans.[4]
Revolutionary War service
Not long after the Boston Tea Party he moved to Rhode Island and there, upon receiving news of the Battle of Lexington, volunteered for the Continental Army. He was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Company of Rhode Island Artillery in May 1775, and fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill under Major General Nathanael Greene.[1] He was promoted to major of the Independent Battalion of Artillery on November 9, 1776.[2]
Ebenezer was selected by George Washington to raise battalions against Quebec, Canada. Ebenezer was present at the surrender of the British General Burgoyne at Saratoga, New York, on October 17, 1777. He served under the French general the Marquis de Lafayette in Virginia with distinction.[2]
On November 24, 1778, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in Lamb's Continental Artillery Regiment (later the 2nd Continental Artillery Regiment) to rank from April 30, 1778. In 1781 he was one of the artillery commanders at the Siege of Yorktown. He was discharged from the army in June 1783.[5]
After the war
Although it is stated in several sources that Stevens was a major general in the United States Army, there is no official documentation to support this notion. He was, however, a major general in the New York state militia after the Revolution and mobilized militiamen to defend New York City in case of British attack in September 1814. He was the initial commander of Fort Stevens, which was named after him, which was built to protect Hell Gate from a potential British invasion.[6]
He lived as a merchant in New York City.[7] In 1795 Stevens and Peter Schermerhorn purchased a water lot from William Beekman. Three years later, four buildings at 220-226 Front Street were built on the portion that had been filled in. Stevens, a fleet owner and liquor importer, operated out of 222 Front Street.[8]
