A BRIEF SKETCH OF 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 GENERAL HAZARD STEVENS 
 
A BRIEF SKETCH OF 
 
 I, 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 GENERAL HAZARD STEVENS 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 Geo. H. ELLIs^Co., Printers, 272 Congress Street 
 
 1908 
 
\- 1 
 
 MAY 16 191ft 
 
To the Electors of the Tenth Congressional District : 
 
 The undersigned recommend the voters of the Tenth Con- 
 gressional District, irrespective of party, to elect General 
 Hazard Stevens our representative in Congress, as a protest 
 against the burden of the tariff, and as the most effective 
 movement for removing that burden yet offered. The plat- 
 forms of the political parties on this the most important issue 
 before the country are vague generalities. 
 
 He alone declares a specific measure of relief, — a measure 
 so reasonable and moderate that probably nine-tenths of the 
 people approve it; namely, the abohtion of duties on food, 
 raw materials, and goods the like of which are made in this 
 country and sold abroad cheaper than at home, and the re- 
 duction of duties by one-half on other goods. 
 
 If a Massachusetts district ratifies this measure by sending 
 him to Congress to demand it, the moral effect upon that 
 body and the country will be great, and will exert a marked 
 influence towards securing a substantial reform of the tariff, 
 for even inveterate protectionists would reaHze that the peo- 
 ple were becoming aroused. 
 
 General Stevens's wide knowledge of the whole country and 
 of public questions, his ripe experience, ability, and force of 
 character, eminently fit him to represent the district in Con- 
 gress. During his long and varied career he has always 
 proved himself able, efficient, patriotic, and brave, a man of 
 honor and integrity, and true to every duty intrusted to him, 
 as the story of his life amply proves. 
 
 (Signed) William H. Turner, 
 
 1 Everton Street, Dorchester. 
 William Bellamy, 
 
 Bowdoin Avenue, Dorchester. 
 William J. Ladd, 
 
 Adams Street, Milton. 
 John Lindsley, 
 
 Adams Street, Milton. 
 Samuel Brazier, 
 
 127 P Street, South Boston.' 
 Calvin G. Hutchinson, 
 
 14 Wales Street, Dorchester. 
 A. C. Kendall, 
 
 Bowdoin Avenue, Dorchester. 
 Nathaniel S. Hunting, 
 
 Quincy. 
 
A BRIEF SKETCH OF 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 GENERAL HAZARD STEVENS 
 
 He was born in Newport, R.I., June 9, 1842, the son of the 
 late Major-general Isaac I. Stevens and his wife, born Margaret 
 Hazard, the daughter of an eminent lawyer of that city and 
 the grand-daughter of Colonel Daniel Lyman of the Revolu- 
 tion. In his native town and on his uncle's farm in Narragan- 
 sett, the old homestead of the Hazards, he early learned to 
 swim, sail a boat, drive oxen, and do the chores on the farm, 
 but the most exciting and beneficial experiences of his boy- 
 hood in developing self-reliance and hardihood were when he 
 accompanied his father, then governor of Washington Terri- 
 tory, upon his expeditions to hold councils and make treaties 
 with the Indians of the Pacific North-west. On one of these 
 trips the party of only twenty-five white men, on horseback 
 and with pack mules, traversed the wild unsettled Indian 
 country from Puget Sound to the Missouri River, held six 
 councils with many thousands of Indians, at times in immi- 
 nent peril of massacre, crossed the Rocky Mountains twice, 
 the last time in midwinter, forced their way through hostile 
 tribes, rescued a party of miners, and reached the border 
 settlement on the Columbia in safety after an absence of nine 
 months and a journey of 2,000 miles. On this trip on one 
 occasion the lad, only thirteen years old, rode 150 measured 
 miles in thirty hours to carry an important despatch to the 
 Gros Ventres Indians. He spent three weeks hunting the 
 buffalo with a small party, accompanied by friendly Black- 
 
6 
 
 feet Indians, in order to procure meat for the main party, which 
 was almost destitute of provisions. In the Indian War of 
 1855-6 he bore arms as a volunteer, and has been awarded 
 a pension for that service, although he does not draw it. 
 Needless to say these varied experiences developed his self- 
 reliance, judgment, and courage, and he became a good rider 
 and a good shot. 
 
 Returning to the East in the winter of 1857, when his father 
 entered Congress, he fitted for college at Chauncy Hall 
 School in Boston, and entered Harvard in 1860 in the class 
 of 1864. He left college at the end of the Freshman year, at 
 the age of nineteen, to enter the army, hke so many brave and 
 patriotic youtlis all over the land, and help put down the great 
 rebellion. 
 
 His Military Career. 
 
 He enlisted in the 79th Highlanders, New York Volunteers, 
 of which his father was colonel at the time, and carried a 
 musket in his first engagement near Lewinsville, Va., and his 
 brave conduct and coolness in the skirmish were praised by 
 his commander. Captain David Ireland. A few days later 
 he acted as aide to his father in another engagement af Lewins- 
 ville, and was again commended for good conduct. He was 
 appointed adjutant of his regiment Sept. 26, 1861, and on 
 October 19 was appointed Captain and Assistant Adjutant- 
 general of the First Brigade, commanded by his father, of the 
 combined military and naval expedition under General T. W. 
 Sherman and Commodore Samuel F. Dupont, which captured 
 the forts at Port Royal, S.C. The brigade erected a long line 
 of works at Hilton Head, and then occupied Port Royal and 
 adjacent islands, with headquarters at Beaufort, the chief town. 
 During the winter and spring General 1. I. Stevens put the 
 troops through a stiff course of drill and discipline. Captain 
 Hazard Stevens proved himself a capable officer. He re- 
 peatedly drilled the entire brigade, handling several thousand 
 men, of the three arms, with success. His father writes: 
 "Hazard is very expert both at battahon and brigade drill, 
 and he can drill a brigade much better than any of my colonels. 
 
He takes very great interest in everything, is full of life and 
 energy, very industrious, studies carefully his tactics, regula- 
 tions, etc. He is making a very superior officer,- indeed; is 
 a very efficient adjutant-general." 
 
 The enemy having erected batteries on the Coosaw River 
 which separates Port Royal Island from the mainland, Gen- 
 eral Stevens crossed several miles below the works with his 
 brigade (reinforced b}^ two regiments), defeated a considerable 
 force of the enemy in a sharp action, and took and destroyed 
 the works. The thanks of the government were given in gen- 
 eral orders to General Stevens and his command for this vic- 
 tory, styled the battle of Port Royal Ferry. Captain Stevens's 
 conduct in this engagement was warmly commended. 
 
 In June, 1862, General H. W. Benham, with 12,000 troops 
 in two divisions and an independent brigade, commanded 
 respectively by Generals Isaac I. Stevens, H. G. Wright, and 
 Robert Williams, entered the Stono River and landed on James 
 Island, which borders Charleston Harbor on the south. The 
 enemy had a strong line of works across the island, which 
 it was necessary to break in order to reach the city. The left 
 flank of this line rested on the harbor, and a strong work, 
 Fort Lamar, was thrown out in advance of this flank and across 
 a narrow neck with deep sloughs on both flanks, so that it could 
 only be attacked in front. Benham, after wasting ten days 
 in vacillation, during which the enemy daily strengthened 
 his lines, at last hastily decided to assault Fort Lamar with 
 General Stevens's division, while Wright and Williams took 
 position to guard against the enemy's sallying from his main 
 line and falling upon the rear of the force attacking the fort. 
 One evening he summoned his generals to the transport in 
 the river, which he made his headquarters, and peremptorily 
 ordered the movement to be made at daylight the next morn- 
 ing, notwithstanding the remonstrances of all three. It was 
 eleven o'clock at night when General Stevens came ashore 
 and ordered Captain Stevens to issue the necessary orders 
 for the movement. At half-past 2 a.m. the division was under 
 arms and on the march, and at the first light of dawn it deliv- 
 ered the assault with the greatest gallantry. The work 
 
8 
 
 proved too strong. The column hurled itself upon it in vain. 
 In twenty minutes 600 brave men lay weltering in their blood 
 upon the fa^tal plain in front, while the survivors, broken and 
 scattered, sought shelter behind the high cotton ridges with 
 which it was lined. Captain Stevens rode close up to the 
 fort and brought ofif the troops. Of his gallantry in this 
 action his father writes: "Hazard has worked very hard of 
 late. Did I write you that his conduct on the battlefield was 
 witnessed by the rebels with great admiration? So say the 
 rebel officers whom my officers met under a recent flag of 
 truce. These officers say a great many shots were fired 
 directly at him. Every one in the division knows the officer 
 they refer to, from the description of the officer and his horse, 
 to be Hazard. The boy did most nobly^ and every one speaks 
 in the highest terms of his conduct on the field of battle. Was 
 not his life wonderfully preserved?" 
 
 Benham was deprived of his command, the troops Were 
 withdrawn, and General Stevens and his division sailed to 
 Newport News, Va., where they were incorporated with Burn- 
 side's troops from North Carolina as the Ninth Corps, forming 
 the First Division. Captain Stevens, as Adjutant-general 
 of this division commanded by his father, went through Pope's 
 campaign, the battles of Second Bull Run and Chantilly. 
 In the latter his father, General Isaac I. Stevens fell, flag in 
 hand, leading the charge of his troops which repulsed Jack- 
 son 's^flank movement and saved the Union Army from dis- 
 aster. Captain Stevens received two severe wounds, one ball 
 passing through the left arm just above the wrist, splintering 
 the bones, and another in the hip. His wounds were hastily 
 bandaged on the field, and he was carried to a neighboring 
 farm-house, filled with wounded, where he lay until two in the 
 morning, drenched to the skin, for the battle was fought in a 
 tremendous thunder-storm. An officer of the division called 
 at the house as the Union troops were falling back, and recog- 
 nized Captain Stevens. He hunted up an ambulance, and 
 had him placed in it and brought to Washington, and thus 
 saved him from falling into the hands of the enemy. 
 
 Under careful nursing in his native air of Newport, Captain 
 
9 
 
 Stevens recovered from his severe wounds in about seven 
 weeks, and returned to the army then in front of Fredericks- 
 burg. He was assigned to the Third Division of the Ninth 
 Corps, commanded by General George W. Getty, as Inspector- 
 general. He took part in the battle of Fredericksburg, where 
 Getty's division made the last charge on the stone wall at the 
 foot of Marye's Heights on the fatal 13th of December, and 
 were repulsed like all the rest, and he was again commended 
 for good conduct. 
 
 In March, 1863, Getty's division was sent to Suffolk, Va., 
 to reinforce the garrison there under General John J, Peck. 
 The following month General James Longstreet with 30,000 
 troops descended on the town, which occupies a neck between 
 the Dismal Swamp and the Nansemond River, a branch of the 
 James. Longstreet planned to cross the river below the town, 
 take it in the rear, and capture it with the garrison. The town 
 itself was fortified, but there were no defences along the river. 
 When the enemy appeared. General Peck ordered the few 
 troops watching the line of the river into the town. General 
 Getty was intrusted with the inner line which rested on the 
 stream. With Captain Stevens and a single orderly he went 
 outside the line, and reconnoitred along the river, and dis- 
 covered a force of the enemy erecting ' batteries and making 
 every preparation to force the passage. Despatching the 
 orderly to General Peck with urgent request for troops and 
 guns, the general and his staff officer laid out the lines for 
 trenches and batteries. The troops and artillery arrived at 
 dark and worked all night, and at daylight the enemy's works, 
 were overwhelmed by the concentrated fire of three batteries 
 opposite, above, and below their position. For three weeks 
 an incessant contest went on, the enemy erecting batteries 
 at night, Getty erecting counter-batteries and lining the river 
 bank with intrenchments, until he had completely fortified 
 it for some six miles with works garrisoned by 7,000 troops 
 and fifty guns. In these operations Captain Stevens, as Adju- 
 tant-general and Chief-of-staff, worked night and day. The 
 turning-point of the siege was the capture of Fort Huger, 
 planned and carried out by him, and for which he was awarded 
 
10 
 
 the medal of honor. This exploit is best told in General 
 Getty's own words in his application that the medal be conferred 
 upon Captain Stevens: — 
 
 "I respectfully recommend that a medal of honor be con- 
 ferred upon Hazard Stevens for distinguished gallantry in 
 the field during the war, and particularly for the storming 
 of Fort Huger, on the Nansemond River, ^'irginia, April 19, 
 1863. 
 
 "The affair to which I allude occurred as follows: The 
 enemy appeared in heavy force upon the line of the Nanse- 
 mond River, planting batteries at a number of points, threat- 
 ening to force a passage, and compelling a few unarmed gun- 
 boats which assisted in the defence — improvised from ieTTx- 
 boats and the like — to shift their positions continually to 
 avoid destruction. Some five miles below the town the river 
 was narrowed by a salient point on the opposite, or enemy's 
 side, known as Hill's Point. Here was an old earthwork — 
 Fort Huger — erected by them during the first j^ear of the war. 
 They occupied this with a battery of five guns, and all efforts 
 to dislodge or silence them by the fire of the gunboats and 
 artillery from the opposite bank proved abortive. One gun- 
 boat was almost destroyed, being struck over one hundred 
 times by shot and shell, and the others were repulsed. Five 
 small gunboats above the fort were cut off from escape by 
 it, and their destruction became a question of only a few days, 
 or even hours. 
 
 "Such was the state of affairs when accompanied by Cap- 
 tain Stevens, of my staff, and Lieutenant R. H. Lamson, of 
 the navy, who commanded the gunboats, I rode to that part 
 of my lines opposite Fort Huger in order to ob-erve it more 
 closely. 
 
 "Captain Stevens and Lieutenant Lamson climbed a tree 
 nearby to obtain a better view, but, the more closely it was 
 scanned, the more formidable and unapproachable the fort 
 appeared. At length Captain Stevens declared that the only 
 way to silence the fort was to cross the river and take it. 
 Lieutenant Lamson responded that he would furnish the 
 
11 
 
 boats if General Getty would furnish the troops, whereupon 
 the gallant fellows hastened to lay the suggestion before me. 
 
 "I adopted it at once. As rapidly as possible detachments 
 of 270 men were embarked on one of the gunboats at a land- 
 ing two miles above the fort. I also went aboard, and accom- 
 panied the expedition in person. A canvas screen was drawn 
 up all around the deck, effectually screening the troops. The 
 boat steamed rapidly down the stream, the enemy, observing 
 her, supposed she was about to try to run past the battery, 
 and waited with double-shotted guns until she should come 
 abreast and within fifty yards of the fort as the channel ran, 
 all ready to blow her out of water. Just above the work the 
 vessel was run into the bank. Captain Stevens was the first 
 man to leap off the deck of the vessel and struggle ashore, 
 waist-deep in mud and water. He was immediately followed 
 by the troops. They struggled ashore, climbed the steep 
 bank, led by Captain Stevens, and made for the fort and 
 stormed it on the run, although the enemy opened a hot fire 
 of musketry, and reversed and fired one of his guns. 
 
 "The capture of five guns, nine officers, and 130 men, and the 
 rescue of five gunboats, and the occupation of a point of 
 vital importance were the results of one of the most brilliant 
 achievements of the war, accomplished, too, with a loss of 
 only four killed and ten wounded. 
 
 "I was an eye-witness to Stevens's courage and daring in 
 every battle in which the Divisions I had the honor to com- 
 mand were engaged from Fredericksburg to the closing scene 
 at Appomattox. There is no officer more deserving of a medal 
 of honor than he. At the battle of the Wilderness I remember 
 he was wounded, but never left the field, and remained with 
 the Division and behaved in his usual gallant manner in all 
 the battles of the Army of the Potomac from that great battle 
 to Petersburg." 
 
 Soon after the loss of this work General Longstreet raised 
 the siege and retreated. 
 
 The Union forces then evacuated Suffolk, and General 
 Getty with his division fortified a line seven miles in front 
 
12 
 
 of Portsmouth, Va., running from the James to the EUza- 
 beth River, a distance of four miles. Captain Steveas did 
 most of the engineering in laying out this line, which con- 
 sisted of a continuous infantry parapet, with stronger works 
 for artillery at intervals and a corduroy road in rear. 
 
 In June an army of 22,000 men under General Dix was 
 sent up the York and Pamunkey Rivers, and landed at the 
 White House. From this point General Dix advanced a 
 strong detachment to make a demonstration on Richmond, 
 and sent General Getty with his division reinforced by two 
 cavalry regiments up the left bank of the Pamunkey to destroy 
 the railroad bridge across the South Anna River near Hanover 
 Court House. 
 
 After a slight skirmish, General Getty accomplished his 
 mission, and marched back to the White House. Nothing 
 was accomplished by General Dix, and his army was soon 
 withdrawn and distributed at various posts in his depart- 
 ment of Eastern Virginia and North Carolina. At this very 
 time the great and decisive battle of Gettysburg was fought. 
 Had these troops that General Dix wasted in vain demon- 
 strations been thrown on the line of the Potomac above 
 Harper's Ferry, it is hard to see how Lee could have escaped 
 destruction. 
 
 General John G. Foster succeeded General Dix. Pie 
 appointed Captain Stevens Colonel of the First Regiment, 
 Loyal Virginians, with authority to raise the regiment from 
 the loyal whites in Eastern Virginia, but after every effort 
 only two companies could be raised. As he could not be 
 mustered into the United States service without a full regi- 
 ment, he applied to be relieved from his command and ordered 
 to the Army of the Potomac, where General Getty now had 
 the command of the Second Division of the Sixth Corps. 
 General Benjamin F. Butler, who had succeeded General 
 Foster, granted the application with a kindly letter to the 
 young officer. 
 
 On reaching the Army of the Potomac, he was assigned to 
 Getty's Second Division, Sixth Corps, as Inspector-general 
 and Adjutant-general, and took part in the bloody campaign 
 
13 
 
 that followed. At the battle of the Wilderness he was wounded 
 by a shrapnel ball on the right leg below the knee, but, after 
 his wound was dressed and bandaged, returned to the field. 
 His horse was also killed under him by a bullet which pierced 
 its heart. He remained on duty with this division until the 
 end of the war, taking part in every campaign and battle 
 in which the Sixth Corps participated. He was promoted 
 to be Major and Assistant Adjutant-general, United States 
 Volunteers, Oct. 13, 1864; Brevet Lieutenant-colonel, Aug. 1, 
 1864, "for gallantry and distinguished services in the pres- 
 ent campaign before Richmond, Va."; Brevet Colonel, Oct. 
 19, 1864, "for gallant and meritorious services in the battles 
 of Winchester, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek." This was 
 Sheridan's noted campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. 
 
 The Sixth Corps returned to the siege of Petersburg in No- 
 vember, 1864. It struck the decisive blow which forced 
 the evacuation of Richmond and the retreat of Lee's army, 
 when at dawn on April 2, 1865, formed in a sohd wedge, it 
 burst through the rebel lines of Petersburg. For his part 
 in this assault Colonel Stevens was brevetted Brigadier-general, 
 April 2, 1865, "for gallant and meritorious services before 
 Petersburg, Va.," the youngest general in the war, being not 
 quite twenty-three. He took part in the pursuit, was at the 
 battle of Sailor's Creek and the surrender at Appomattox. 
 Following this campaign, he took part in the march of the 
 Sixth Corps to Danville, Va., the march thence to Washington, 
 the grand review of the corps, and was mustered out Sept. 
 30, 1865. At this time General Rufus Ingalls and Senator 
 Nesmith of Oregon, both influential men and warm friends of 
 Grant, offered to secure his appointment as Major in the reg- 
 ular army, but he declined it. 
 
 In Civil Life. 
 
 Without an}" jsrofession or business and his mother and 
 sisters dependent upon him in great measure. General Stevens 
 went out again to Washington Territory. He was employed 
 by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company as their agent at 
 
14 
 
 Wallula, a steamboat landing on the Columbia River 350 
 miles above its mouth, and remained at this place a year and 
 a half. During this time he took in for the company for 
 freight and passengers $150,000, nearly all in gold dust. On 
 leaving its service, he received a warm letter of commendation 
 from Captain John C. Ainsworth, the president. 
 
 While at Wallula he received the appointment of Captain 
 in the 14th Infantry, United States Army, but declined it. 
 
 His mother and sisters came out from Boston, and he built 
 a house for them in Portland, Ore. 
 
 In Ma}'', 1868, he was appointed Collector of Intornal Revenue 
 for Washington Territory, and moved to Oh'mpia, where his 
 mother and sisters joined him the following year. He held 
 this position three years, during which he collected for the 
 government $200,000 and returned less than one per cent, 
 of the taxes intrusted to him to collect as uncollectible. 
 
 While collector, he read law with Hon. Ehvood Evans, dnd 
 was admitted to the bar. In 1870 he was appointed attorney 
 for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and served in that 
 capacity four years. He purchased the right of way for the 
 railroad from Kalama on the Columbia to Tacoma on Puget 
 Sound, purchased land for and laid out town sites along the 
 road, and assisted in securing the site for the terminus at 
 Tacoma. The most important service he rendered the com- 
 pany was the suppression of timber stealing on the public 
 land, which had been almost openly practised since the first 
 settlement of the country. The company by its charter was 
 entitled to half the land within forty miles of its road as soon 
 as the road was built and accepted, so it had a vital interest 
 in the preservation of the timber. Acting for the company 
 and with all expenses paid by it, but in the name and with 
 the authority of the United States Land Office, General Stevens 
 seized every raft of logs cut on pubhc land, and with a power- 
 ful tug towed them to the nearest town. Here they were 
 sold at auction unless the logger would agree to quit trespass- 
 ing on public land, in which case he was allowed to redeem 
 his logs at half the market price, or $2 a thousand feet. Gen- 
 eral Stevens followed this matter up with such energy that by 
 
15 
 
 the end of a year illegal logging was completely stopped. It 
 cost the company a little over $10,000, and the receipts from 
 seized timber slightly exceeded that amount, so it really cost 
 the company nothing. 
 
 After agreeing to run its railroad to Olympia, the Northern 
 Pacific Railroad Company built it far to the eastward, leaving 
 the town fifteen miles away with no communication except a 
 stage-coach, and located its terminus at Tacoma. There was 
 great discouragement in the former town, and a number of 
 families removed to Tacoma, and it seemed almost that the 
 place might die out. General Stevens organized the people 
 of the town in the Olympia Railroad Union for the purpose 
 of building a railroad to connect with the Northern Pacific. 
 He was chosen president of the union, and inspired the people 
 with such hope and courage that they graded the first five 
 miles by working-bees on weekly " field days,' ' when the whole 
 population, from governor and judges to the humblest laborer, 
 worked on the road. Contributions of money, food, land, 
 and labor, were made by the people, and finally, with the aid 
 of $75,000 of county bonds, the road was completed and opened. 
 As there were scarcely 2,000 people in the town, the difficulty 
 of this enterprise may be realized. 
 
 In 1874 he was appointed by President Grant Commissioner 
 to investigate the claims of British subjects on the San Juan 
 Archipelago, which had been awarded to the United States 
 by the Emperor of Germany after being in dispute between 
 this country and Great Britain for twenty years. After giving 
 public notice, he visited every settlement on the islands in 
 a revenue vessel, prepared with a clerk, etc., to receive and 
 note all claims, only to find that there were none, because all 
 the British subjects had become naturalized American citi- 
 zens and had taken their land under the United States land 
 laws. His report to that effect was the most satisfactory to 
 the President and Secretary of State that could possibly be 
 made. It was in consequence of the representations of the 
 British government as to such claims that President Grant 
 obtained from Congress authority and an appropriation for 
 sending a commissioner to investigate them. 
 
16 
 
 Mount Tacoma, or Rainier, the loftiest and noblest in the 
 United States, barring Alaska, 14,500 feet high and snow 
 clad half-way to its base, stands in full view from the prairies 
 back of Olympia, and indeed from the town itself, although 
 sixty miles away. The failure of a gallant officer. General 
 August V. Kautz, in 1857 to reach the summit after an attempt 
 in which he and his party suffered great hardships, led to the 
 general belief that it was insurmountable. General Stevens 
 organized a small party to attempt the ascent, traversed the 
 dense intervening forest, and on Aug. 17, 1870, with a single 
 companion, Mr. P. B. Van Trump, stood upon the very sum- 
 mit, after a climb from the foot of the snow-line of thirteen 
 and one-half hours. It being too late to descend that 
 night the dangerous snow and rock steeps, they took refuge 
 in the crater and were saved from freezing by the steam 
 emitted therefrom. They were seventeen days on the trip. 
 One of the party broke down and was left behind, 'and 
 Mr. Van Trump met with a serious hurt in descending the 
 mountain. General Stevens published a full and interesting 
 account of this ascent in the Atlantic Monthly of November, 
 1876. 
 
 His mother and sisters having returned to Boston in 1874 
 in consequence of the severe illness of one of the latter, the 
 following year General Stevens also went there, and entered 
 upon the practice of his profession. In 1885 he was elected 
 to the General Court from the Dorchester ward as an Inde- 
 pendent, having previously advocated the reform of the city 
 charter in addresses and articles. He organized the Municipal 
 Reform Association in order to bring its influence to bear upon 
 the legislature in favor of the charter reform. Although an 
 Independent and without party support, he soon gained the 
 respect and confidence of the House. He was placed on the 
 Committee on Cities, and the bill to reform the city charter 
 was reported by him for the committee and carried through 
 the House, and became a law. He also drew the bill for limit- 
 ing the rate of taxation and indebtedness, which is now the 
 law. A large number of bills were submitted to the com- 
 mittee bv diflferent lawvers, but his was not onlv more con- 
 
17 
 
 else and lucid, but self -executing, so it was preferred. He 
 was again elected to the House the following year. 
 
 In that year, 1886, he was nominated for Congress by the 
 tariff reformers, and certain assurances were given of the 
 Democratic nomination. But this was given to Hon. Leo- 
 pold Morse, and General Stevens withdrew in his favor. 
 
 He made many speeches in this State and some in Rhode 
 Island and Connecticut in support of the election of Grover 
 Cleveland as President. 
 
 At the outbreak of the late Spanish War he was strongly 
 recommended for appointment as Brigadier-general by Gen- 
 eral George W. Getty and General H. G. Wright, commanders 
 of the division and corps in which he served in the Civil War, 
 by General Miles, commanding the army, and General Scofield, 
 the preceding commander, by General James H. Wilson, Gen- 
 eral Thomas W. Hyde, Major Henry L. Higginson, and other 
 prominent officers of the Civil War, and by Senators Wetmore 
 of Rhode Island, Hoar and Lodge of Massachusetts, General 
 Hawley of Connecticut, and by Secretary of the Navy John D. 
 Long, but, as two citizens of Massachusetts had been appointed 
 to that position. President McKinley declined to appoint 
 him. 
 
 General Stevens was one of the founders of the Massachu- 
 setts Tariff Reform League, and a member of its Executive 
 Committee for years. In 1901 he became Secretary of the 
 League, and continued in that position for three years. Mr. 
 Henry W. Lamb was the president, and rendered the greatest 
 support to the League during these and previous years and 
 his services and direction of its work were invaluable. During; 
 General Stevens's secretaryship the League issued many 
 tariff-trust articles and plate matter for a large number of 
 newspapers, and Free Trade Almanacs in 1902 and 1903. He 
 was instrumental in changing the name of the League to 
 "American Free Trade League," and adopting the motto, 
 "Equal Rights to All, Special Privileges to None." During 
 the coal famine of the winter of 1903-04 he organized the 
 notable Free Coal Meeting in Faneuil Hall, which undoubtedly 
 brought about the suspension of the duty on coal for a year. 
 
18 
 
 In 1907 and 1908 he took the leading part in saving the 
 Old State House from the encroachments of the Boston Transit 
 Commission, and drafted and secured the passage of the act 
 placing that historic structure under the joint care of the 
 governor and the mayor of Boston, and prohibiting any com- 
 mercial use thereof. He is the author of the Life of Isaac 
 Ingalls Stevens, his distinguished father, a work upon which 
 he was engaged in research and preparation twenty-five years, 
 and which was published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., in 1901, 
 in two octavo volumes, containing 1,000 pages. This work 
 has been highly commended both as an interesting biography 
 and as an historical authority, especially of the early history 
 of the Pacific North-west. Its author was made an honorary 
 member of the State Historical Societies of Washington, Ore- 
 gon, and Montana. Harvard College also, in recognition of 
 this work and of his career as a brave soldier in the nation's 
 cause and as a public-spirited citizen, conferred upon him 
 the degree of Master of Arts. 
 
 General Stevens is also the author of many papers on Civil 
 War subjects read before the Mil-Historical Society and the 
 Loyal Legion, among which are: "The Battle of Cedar 
 Creek"; "The Storming of the Lines of Petersburg"; "The 
 Sixth Corps in the Wilderness"; "The Battle of Sailor's 
 Creek"; "The Siege of Suffolk"; "The Reform of the Militia 
 System," read before the Reform Club in 1899, the recom- 
 mendations of which have been largely adopted by Congress 
 and the War Department. 
 
 Although not a club man, he is a member of the Society of 
 the Cincinnati, Loyal Legion, Grand Army, Sons of the Revo- 
 lution, and Massachusetts Mil-Historical Society. In 1880 
 he built a home on Mount Bowdoin, Dorchester, and has 
 resided there ever since with his mother and sisters. He did 
 much to improve that locality, and with the assistance of the 
 people there founded the Mount Bowdoin Library, now a 
 branch of the Pubhc Library. His interests in the State of 
 Washington requiring much attention, he has withdrawn 
 from active practice of law. 
 
 With characteristic courage and public spirit he offers him- 
 
19 
 
 self as a candidate for Congress, as the most direct and effective 
 way to make the people actually realize the enormous burden 
 of the present tariff upon them, their industries, and their 
 foreign commerce, and to arouse and unite them, regardless 
 of evasive parties and time-serving politicians, in an aggressive 
 effort to throw off that burden by sending to Congress 
 men, like himself, pledged to fight monopoly until they 
 eradicate it. 
 
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