Civil War CDV Union Colonel/General Thomas G Stevenson KIA Spottsylvania CH
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:221694 |
Condition as seen. "When it became apparent that the conflict would not be over quickly, he was detailed to raise a regiment, which became the 24th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (its core was the men from his old militia battalion). Commissioned its Colonel and commander, he led his men in 1862 operations in North Carolina. His unit participated in the capture of Roanoke Island and New Bern, and the lifting of the siege at Washington, North Carolina. Advanced to brigade ...commander, he led his new command in the operations against Kingston and Goldsboro. Promoted to Brigadier General, US Volunteers on December 24, 1862, his commission was not acted upon by Congress, and it expired by law. However, he was re-appointed Brigadier General, and in April 1863 it was duly confirmed. He directed his brigade (designated the Third Brigade, Terry’s Corps) in the Union siege and attempt to invest Charleston, South Carolina (his men stood in reserve as the assaults on Battery Wagner were attempted and repulsed). His time in the swamplands of South Carolina brought him a severe case of malaria, which forced him to go on extended sick leave in the Winter of 1863 to 1864. When he recovered sufficiently enough to resume field command, he was given command of the Firs Division in Maj. General Ambrose Burnside’s independent IX Corps, which was attached to the Army of the Potomac in the Spring of 1864. During the May 1864 operations against Confederate positions at Spotsylvania County House, Virginia, he has his division placed in entrenchments along the Ni River near the Gayle House. On the morning of May 10, while conferring with fellow officers, he was shot in the back of his head by a Confederate sharpshooter and instantly killed. His younger brother, Robert Hooper Stevenson, served as Lieutenant Colonel of the 24th Massachusetts Infantry, and was brevetted Brigadier General for his war service. Fort Stevenson on the Missouri River in North Dakota was named in his honor. Today the region, lying on the shores of Lake Sakakawea, is known as Fort Stevenson State Park. A sculptor of him exists today in the Massachusetts State House.
