General Register of the United States Navy and Marine Corps, Arranged in Alphabetical Order, for One Hundred Years (1782 to 1882) ... Including ... with a Sketch of the Navy from 1775-1798 ..
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General Register Of The United States Navy And Marine Corps: Arranged In Alphabetical Order, For One Hundred Years 1782 To 1882 Including Volunteer Officers With A Sketch Of The Navy From 1775 To 1798
Captain Thomas Holdup Stevens was an American naval commander in the War of 1812.
Background
Thomas was born on February 22, 1795 in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Left an orphan in early childhood, he was adopted by Col. Daniel Stevens of Charleston, and was also greatly befriended by Lieut. Ralph Izard, of the Charleston family of that name, the warm affection between the youth and these older officers being evident in letters still retained by the family. In place of his original surname Holdup, in 1815 by legislative enactment he took that of Stevens.
Career
Stevens was warranted midshipman in the U. S. S. Hornet at Charleston in February 1809, and at the outbreak of the War of 1812 was in the John Adams at New York. Volunteering for lake service, he went to the Niagara frontier, and in a night assault on the enemy works opposite Black Rock, November 27-28, 1812, was one of the leaders of a detachment which captured two enemy guns and dislodged an enemy force by firing their barracks. A canister shot through his right hand in this action inflicted permanent injury.
Remaining after the retreat of his main party, he later with seven others recrossed the Niagara at great hazard in a leaky canoe. In recognition of his gallantry, Commodore Isaac Chauncey made him acting lieutenant (confirmed July 24, 1813).
In April 1813 he joined Oliver Hazard Perry at Erie. In the battle of Lake Erie he commanded the sloop Trippe (one long 32-pounder), last in the line, which passed the Tigress and Porcupine to engage the Queen Charlotte, and after the action assisted the Scorpion in the pursuit and capture of two escaping enemy vessels. That he was not specifically mentioned in Perry's dispatches, Stevens attributed to differences with Jesse Duncan Elliott, second in command, under whom he had served previously in the Niagara. He received the silver medal awarded by Congress to officers in the action, and a sword from his native city.
In the summer of 1814 he was first lieutenant in the Niagara on Lake Huron, and in the autumn he was selected by Perry to join him in the Java, fitting for the Mediterranean. Her departure being delayed till after peace, however, he did not sail in her, but secured a furlough and was married in November or December 1815 to Elizabeth Read Sage, daughter of Ebenezer Sage, a prominent merchant of Middletown, Connecticut His home in later years was in Middletown.
He had charge of the Boston naval rendezvous, 1832-36; was made captain, January 27, 1836; and at the time of his sudden death in 1841 had held command of the Washington navy yard for nearly a year.
A miniature by Peale, owned by his descendants, pictures him as of strong and pleasing features, marked by a scar on the right cheek.
Quotes from others about the person
Surgeon Usher Parsons, a friend and fellow-officer of the lake campaign, speaks of him as "the very soul of chivalry, generous, high-minded, " lively in conversation, being a "loud and free talker, " and with "literary talent of a high order".
Connections
He had three daughters and three sons, but of the sons only one, Thomas Holdup, 1819-1896, lived to mature years.