Ebenezer Stevens

(August 12, 1751 – September 23, 1823) 

Ebenezer Stevens was a native of Boston, but unlike most of the other participants, he was not an artisan or tradesman by profession; rather, he was a professional artillerist.         

He began his career in Paddock’s Artillery Company along with fellow Boston Tea Party participants Thomas Crafts Jr. and Paul Revere.  

When the tea ships arrived in Boston Harbor in late 1773, Paddock’s Company was tasked with guarding the vessels to prevent the offloading of the tea. Stevens was one of those militiamen who carried out the patrol. On the night of December 16, 1773, he was assigned to board the ship Dartmouth but changed to another vessel after discovering that his soon-to-be brother-in-law was a shipmate on board. 

During the Revolutionary War, Stevens quickly rose through the ranks and was promoted to Major in 1777 for his participation in the Boston Tea Party and his leadership in the northern campaigns in Quebec. He was then given command of the artillery and military stores at Ticonderoga and Mount Independence on Lake Champlain in New York and the Hampshire Grants, now Vermont. He survived the Evacuation of Ticonderoga and aided in the successful Battles at Saratoga, New York. At the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, Stevens served as Lieutenant Colonel and witnessed the historic British surrender.

Stevens continued to serve in the military, leading an artillery company during the War of 1812, where he defended New York Harbor. He stayed in New York, where he served in the New York State Assembly in 1799. Ebenezer Stevens’ participation in the Boston Tea Party was made public thanks to a memoir written by his son, John Austin Stevens.  

Ebenezer Stevens died in Rockaways, Queens County, New York, on September 23, 1823, and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.