Adam Stephen

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Adam Stephen (* 1718 in Rhynie , Great Britain , † July 16, 1791 in Martinsburg , West Virginia ) was a Scottish doctor and officer . After he settled in the Thirteen Colonies , he served there under George Washington both during the Seven Years' War in the Colonial Militia of Virginia , and during the Revolutionary War in the Continental Army , where he last commanded a division . When a friendly fire broke out at the Battle of Germantown in 1777 , because he was drunk at the time, he was demoted and dishonorably discharged from the army as a result . In 1778 he founded the city of Martinsburg (West Virginia).

Career

Adam graduated from King's College in Aberdeen and then studied medicine in Edinburgh . He then enlisted in the Royal Navy and served on a hospital ship before emigrating to the British colony of Virginia in the late 1730s or early 1740s. There he settled in Fredericksburg and opened a doctor's office. In 1754 he joined the Virginia militia and held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Virginia Regiment under George Washington . In the same year he took part in Washington's campaign, which culminated with the battle of Jumonville Glen and the Battle of Fort Necessity and was the prelude to the Seven Years War . With his regiment he then took part in the catastrophic Braddock campaign of 1755 and other campaigns. When the war finally ended in 1763, he took command of the regiment from George Washington and then helped put down the Pontiac rebellion .

After the outbreak of the Revolutionary War he offered his services to the Continental Army and then served again under George Washington. He took part in the New York and New Jersey campaigns of 1776 and early 1777. In the defense of Philadelphia he was major general in command of a division in Washington’s army. In October 1777, at the Battle of Germantown , he led his troops into a situation where he was caught in friendly fire by the forces of Anthony Wayne . When the subsequent court martial found that Stephen had been drinking at the time of the battle, he was dismissed from his command, demoted, and dishonorably discharged from the army.

Stephen returned to Virginia and in 1778 laid out the plan for Martinsburg in what is now West Virginia. He named the city after his friend, Colonel Thomas Bryan Martin , and was sheriff in Berkeley County , of which Martinsburg became the county seat . In the later years he joined Generals Horatio Gates and Charles Lee , both of whom purchased real estate in the county. In 1788 he was elected to the Virginia Convention, which ratified the US Constitution .

Stephen was once married with one child, a daughter named Ann. He died in Martinsburg in 1791. At the place where he was buried there is now a memorial in his honor.

Trivia

Stephen's residence in Martinsburg, better known as the Adam Stephen House , and the residence at Shepherdstown, West Virginia, better known as The Bower , are listed on the National Register of Historic Places .

Individual evidence

  1. Clifford M. Lewis (July 1970): "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Adam Stephen House"
  2. Michael J. Pauley (November 1, 1981): "National Register of Historic Places Nomination: The Bower"

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