Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/31

 STEVENS

STEVENS

Glared for the secession he otiered his services to the Federal government, and was appointed colonel of the 79th Highlanders, New York volun- teers; brigadier-general, Sept. 28, 1861, and major- general, July 4th, 1863. He commanded the 3d brigade. Smith's division at the Chain Bridge in front of Washington in September and October, the 2d brigade of the Port Royal expedition in November, occupied Port Royal and adjacent islands in South Carolina, fought the action of Port Royal Feri-y, Jan. 1, 1862, commanded the 1st division of the army under General Benliam against Charleston, and led the main cokunn at the battle of James Island, June 16, 1862, assault- ing Fort Lamar at daylight with his entire com- mand, but was repulsed with a loss of 600 killed and wounded, nearly all in twenty minutes. Transferred to Virginia, his division formed the 1st division of the 9th cori^s, on the organization of that corps at Newport News in July, 1862. Thence marching up the Rappahannock he joined Pope's army on the Rapidan, participated in the disastrous campaign that ensued, and distin- guished himself at the second battle of Bull Run. At the battle of Chantilly he hurled his scanty force of six regiments upon Stonewall Jackson's corps as they were advancing to seize the main line of retreat in rear of Pope's army, with such force and determination that he drove back the center division, threw them into confusion and frustrated the movement, saving the Union army from a great disaster. While leading his old regiment, the 79th Highlanders, in this success- ful charge, he fell with the colors in his hand. He is buried in Newport, R.I., where the city erected a monument to him. His life, written by his son, may be found in the public libraries. He is the author of: Camjxiigns of the Rio Grande and of Mexico; Report of Northern Pacific Railroad Exploration (3 vols., published by con- gress), pamphlets upon the Northern Route, the Northwest, Letter to Emigrants, etc. He died near Chantilly, Va., Sept. 1, 1862.

STEVENS, John, delegate, was born in New York city, about 1708; son of John Stevens who arrived in New York from England in 1699, when about seventeen years of age, took up the study of law and was addmitted to practice in 1703. John Stevens was educated for the law and prac- tised with his father, who was a large landholder in both the colonies of New York and New Jer- sey, He made liis home in New Jersey, and became a commissioner to define the bound- ary line between the two colonies in 1774. In June, 1776, he resigned his councilorship under the crown and served as vice-pi'esident of the council of New Jersej% 1776-82. and as such officer presided over the two legislative benches, joint- ly. He was a delegate to the Continental con-

gress. 1773-84, having been elected in November, 178o, and he attended the congress assembled at Annapolis, Md., Nov. 26, 1783, to June 3, 1784, and at Trenton, N.J., Nov. 1, to Dec. 24, 1784. He presided over the New Jersey state convention assembled, Dec. 18, 1787, to ratify the adoption of the Federal constitution. He died in New York city in May, 1792.

STEVENS, John, engineer, was born in New York city, in 1748 or 1749; son of John Stevens, delegate to the Continental congress (q. v.). He was graduated at King's college (now Columbia university) A.B., 1768, A.M., 1771, and was ad- mitted to practice in the colonial courts in 1771. Being a patriot, he left New York city when the British troops took possession, and located on his father's estate, the island of Hoboken, New Jersey. He joined the Continental army and reached the rank of colonel. He also served as treasurer of New Jersey, 1776-79, and held vari- ous other state and county offices. When the Britisli evacuated New York he returned to that city and was married to Rachel, daughter of John Cox of Bloomsbury, N.J. He turned his attention to invention and the application of steam to navigation. He witnessed the first ex- periment ever made in steamboating by invi- tation of John Fitch, the eccentric inventor, and he was convinced of the practicability of steam navigation when he saw Fitch's frail boat buffet the river current at Burlington on the Delaware in 1787. In 1790 he petitioned the U.S. congress to pass a law protecting American inventors, and his petition resulted in the passage of the act of April 10, 1790, which was the foundation of the patent law. He at once began experimenting at Hoboken on the Hudson, with an improved appli- cation of steam to a boat, and in 1792 applied for patents on his invention. In 1798, after five years, he launched his new craft, a fully equipped steam- boat, and for several years ran it up and down and across the river, exciting the derision of ves- sel owners and landsmen. This was nine years before Fulton built the Clermont. In 1803 he designed the four-blade screw to propel his next steamboat, and put into this vessel the first con- densing double-acting marine engine ever built in America. This second boat was operated on the Hudson three years before Fulton's Clermont was launched, but the influence of Livingston secui'ed for Fulton the monopoly of steam navi- gation on the waters of the Hudson, and Stevens was driven from the field in 1808. Meantime, with his son, Robert L. Stevens, he had built the Phoenix, a large side-wheeler, which they steamed by sea to Philadelphia, in June, 1808, the first steamer to navigate the ocean, and it was profit- ably operated on the Delaware for six years. He patented the multi-tubular boiler in 1803; in