Greenlief T. Stevens
Greenlief Thurlow Stevens (1831–1918) commanded the 5th Maine Battery in the American Civil War. His battery is commemorated by a monument on Stevens' Knoll, named for him, on the Gettysburg Battlefield. It was among the first parts of the battlefield purchased for preservation. Early life Greenlief T. Stevens was born in Belgrade, Maine, a town in Kennebec County, on August 20, 1831. He was the youngest son of Daniel and Mahala (Smith) Stevens. Greenlief Stevens was educated in local schools and taught school before reading law with the Honorable Samuel Titcomb of Augusta, Maine. Stevens became a lawyer, practicing in Belgrade and Augusta after being admitted to the local bar in 1860. He also attended the Harvard Law School, graduating in July 1861; and he was about 30 years old at the outbreak of the Civil War. Civil War service Stevens was commissioned a lieutenant in the 5th Maine Battery on January 31, 1862. The battery spent early 1862 drilling before going into the field. Cpt George F. Leppien commanded the battery. It was attached to the division of BG James B. Ricketts in I Corps, when it was III Corps of the Army of Virginia. The 5th Maine participated in the Second Battle of Bull Run, one of its guns helping cover the army's retreat. When the division was assigned to BG John Gibbon, it served on the left flank at the Battle of Fredericksburg. In the Battle of Chancellorsville, the 5th Maine, attached to the second division under BG John C. Robinson, was moving to join I Corps when it was ordered to a post near the Chancellor House supporting II Corps where it was under fire from Confederate guns. The battery was credited with helping 1st division II Corps withdraw from a dangerous position. Cpt Leppien was mortally wounded, and Lt Edmund Kirby was too. Lt Stevens took over command. He was wounded by a shell fragment on May 3, 1862; but he retained command of the battery. The battery lost a quarter of its personnel killed or wounded. (Stevens reported for the battery on May 8, 1863.) Stevens succeeded to command of the 5th Maine Battery after Chancellorsville, being promoted to the rank of captain on June 21. The battery was transferred to the newly created artillery brigade of I Corps at the end of May. Stevens led the battery at the Battle of Gettysburg, serving near the Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary on July 1. It served near the left of the Seminary building, and it then moved to its right to cover the Chambersburg Pike. The Confederate brigade of BG Alfred Moore Scales came close to Stevens' guns before being repulsed. BG James S. Wadsworth ordered the battery to withdraw as the Union line on Seminary Ridge began to collapse from its left flank rightward. Col Charles S. Wainwright the I Corps chief of artillery countermanded the order and then reinstated it. The battery withdrew through the town of Gettysburg to Cemetery Hill under the cover