Thomas G. Stevenson was a general in the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. He was killed in action during the battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse.

Biography

Stevenson was born in Boston, MA. He was 25 years old when the Civil War began and had risen from private to major

Major (United States)

In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, major is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel...

 in the Massachusetts Militia at that time. On Dec 3, 1861 Stevenson was appointed colonel of the 24th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He led his regiment in the battles of Roanoke Island

Battle of Roanoke Island

The opening phase of what came to be called the Burnside Expedition, the Battle of Roanoke Island was an amphibious operation of the American Civil War, fought on February 7–8, 1862, in the North Carolina Sounds a short distance south of the Virginia border...

 and New Bern

Battle of New Bern

The Battle of New Bern was fought on 14 March 1862, near the city of New Bern, North Carolina, as part of the Burnside Expedition of the American Civil War. The US Army's Coast Division, led by Brigadier General Ambrose E...

. Following the capture of New Bern significant Union reinforcements arrived in North Carolina and Stevenson assumed command of a brigade under John G. Foster

John G. Foster

John Gray Foster was a career military officer in the United States Army and a Union general during the American Civil War whose most distinguished services were in North and South Carolina. A postbellum expert in underwater demolition, he wrote the definitive treatise on the subject.-Early...

.

When much of the Union forces in North Carolina were recalled to Virginia, Foster's command, including Stevenson's brigade, were left behind. He participated in Foster's Goldsborough Expedition

Battle of Goldsboro Bridge

The Battle of Goldsborough Bridge took place on December 17, 1862, in Wayne County, North Carolina, as part of the Union expedition to Goldsboro, North Carolina, during the American Civil War.-Background:...

 and afterward was promoted to brigadier general on December 24, 1862. He then held a series of quiet commands along the Atlantic coast in North and South Carolina.

During in the siege of Charleston Harbor Stevenson commanded the 3rd Brigade in Alfred H. Terry's division. He remained in brigade command around Charleston until January 1864. On April 19, 1864 he was placed in command of the 1st Division, IX Corps. Stevenson had previously fought alongside many of the men from IX Corps in North Carolina. Now, he was one of Burnside's ablest division commanders. He led his new division into action at the battles of the Wilderness

Battle of the Wilderness

The Battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5–7, 1864, was the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by...

 and Spotsylvania. On May 10, 1864 while resting beneath a tree, Stevenson was shot through the head by a sniper's bullet. His body was returned to Massachusetts where he was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery

Mount Auburn Cemetery

Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 as "America's first garden cemetery", or the first "rural cemetery", with classical monuments set in a rolling landscaped terrain...

 in Cambridge.

Fort Stevenson

Fort Stevenson

Fort Stevenson was a frontier military fort in the 19th century in what was then Dakota Territory and what is now North Dakota. The fort was abandoned in 1883 with the sale of all buildings and property. In 1901 the lands encompassing the Fort Stevenson Military Reservation were sold to Black and...

 in North Dakota

North Dakota

North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....

 was named in Thomas Stevenson's honor. His brother, Robert Hooper Stevenson, was also a brigadier general in the Union Army.