Background
Carter Stevenson was born on September 21, 1817, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States. He was the son of Carter Littlepage and Jane Herndon Stevenson.
West Point, New York, United States
Carter graduated forty-second in a class of forty-five from the United States Military Academy in 1838.
Carter Stevenson was born on September 21, 1817, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States. He was the son of Carter Littlepage and Jane Herndon Stevenson.
Carter graduated forty-second in a class of forty-five from the United States Military Academy in 1838.
After graduation from West Point, Carter Stevenson was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 5th Infantry and promoted to be the first lieutenant in 1840. Before the Mexican War, he served in Florida, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
He fought at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, was promoted to the rank of captain in 1847, and, serving chiefly on the frontier until the Civil War, participated in several skirmishes with Indians and in the Utah expedition of 1858.
On June 6, 1861, he presented his resignation to his commanding officer and departed on leave of absence, intending to offer his services to his native state; but his commanding officer left the same day for the same purpose, forgetting to forward the resignation. Finally, it was found by the succeeding commanding officer, who sent it on to Washington, where it arrived a month after it had been written.
Meanwhile, on June 25, an order for Stevenson's dismissal had been issued, "it having been ascertained that he had entertained and expressed treasonable designs against the Government of the United States."
In July Stevenson was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of infantry in the Confederate Army and colonel of the 53rd Virginia Infantry. On Beauregard's recommendation, he was appointed brigadier-general in February 1862 and sent to duty in the West, where he served in Tennessee and Kentucky. He was commissioned a major-general in October 1862.
In December his division was transferred from Bragg's command to Pemberton's and fought at Champion's Hill and Big Black Ridge in the Vicksburg campaign.
The Confederate government declared the division exchanged and returned it to duty in September, an action the Union authorities insisted was a violation of the terms of the cartel. An acrimonious correspondence followed, but the division was not withdrawn from field service.
Whether his government's action may be justified or not, Stevenson had no responsibility in the matter. He fought at Missionary Ridge in Hardee's corps and in Hood's through the Atlanta campaign, notably at Resaca and Kenesaw Mountain. When Hood was assigned to the command of the Army of Tennessee, Stevenson succeeded him temporarily as corps commander, until the assignment of S. D. Lee. His division was not engaged at Franklin but suffered heavily at the Battle of Nashville and in covering the retreat. He again had temporary command of the corps when S. D. Lee was wounded.
In 1865, with the remnant of his division, Stevenson was transferred to the east, where he served through the campaign of the Carolinas and at the battle of Bentonville. After the war, he was a civil and mining engineer.
In 1842 Carter married Martha Silvery Griswold. The couple had four children, but their first two died in infancy.
Major General