The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: ME
Qualifying Service: Soldier
Birth: 18 Feb 1761 Townsend / Middlesex / MA Death: 30 Jun 1816 Norway / Oxford / ME
Qualifying Service Description:
Soldier in Capt Nathan Merrill's Co. New Glouster, ME on the Penobscot Expedition
Additional References:
MA Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, p 976
Soldiers, Sailors, and Patriots of the Rev War Maine, p 751, compiled by Carlton E Fisher, Pub by NSSAR, Louisville, KY
Author: Robert M. Hayden
Nathaniel Stevens, my ggg grandfather, was born on February 18, 1761 in Townsend, Massachusetts. At some un-determined time Nathaniel and family (mother Mary Crandall Stevens and father Jonas Stevens and siblings) moved to the district of Maine then a part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. At the age of 18 Nathaniel was living in New Gloucester, situated in the county of Cumberland about 30 miles due north of Falmouth, Maine now called Portland, Maine. *On Nathaniel’s 18th year he joined the militia of Cumberland County and subsequently embarked with his regiment on the 18th of July, 1779 to partake in a land and sea battle on the central coast of Maine that would come to be known as the “Penobscot Expedition.” The land forces of this expedition consisted of 1000 colonial marines and militiamen, commanded by Bridger General Solomon Lovell, second in command Bridger General Peleg Wadsworth plus a 100 man artillery detachment under command of Lt Colonel Paul Revere. Sea forces consisted of 19 warships with 25 additional supply and support vessels under the overall command of Commodore Saltonstall. The goal of the expedition was to regain control of the coastal area situated midway up the Maine coast, captured earlier by the British, which allowed them to essentially split off the eastern half of the District and rename it New Ireland in order to provide a new providence and home for Loyalist. The fighting took place on land and sea in and around the mouth of the Penobscot and Majabigwaduce Rivers at what is today Castine, Maine, for three weeks during July and August, in 1779. The outcome of the battle for the British was one of their greatest victories of the war and conversely the United States, the worst naval defeat in its history until Pearl Harbor 162 years later in 1941.
Fundamentally, the cause of the defeat was rooted in the unwieldy command structure of combining Continental Naval forces with state and private naval forces Most of the blame was laid at the feet of Commodore Saltonstall who was later court-martialed, found guilty of failure to engage and dismissed from military service. Lt. Colonel Paul Revere hardly fared any better, he was convicted of disobedience and cowardice and dismissed from the militia. However, the conviction was later reversed. The military personnel that escaped the British were left to wander through an expansive Maine wilderness and find their way home to Massachusetts. General Wadsworth, incidentally the grandfather of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was not court-martialed probably on the strength of his leadership on leading and taking care of his men on the retreat through the Maine wilderness back to Massachusetts.
Private Stevens returned to civilian life on September 25, 1799. He later was a pioneer in the town of Norway, Maine and lived there with his wife and nine children until his untimely death in 1816 at the age of 55. He is buried in a cemetery by the name of Norway Center, regrettably in an unmarked grave that I have not been able to locate and probably never will. This article is my small attempt to honor his memory and not let him be forgotten.
Robert M Hayden San Diego Chapter SAR SAR member #180644
*The source for Nathaniel’s service is: Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution, page 976.
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