Adam Stephen
Adam Stephen was a Scottish-born American doctor and military officer who helped found what became Martinsburg, West Virginia. He emigrated to North America, where he served in the Province of Virginia's militia under George Washington during the French and Indian War. He served under Washington again in the American Revolutionary War, rising to lead a division of the Continental Army. After a friendly fire incident during the Battle of Germantown, Stephen was cashiered out of the army but continued as a prominent citizen of western Virginia, including terms in the Virginia General Assembly representing Berkeley County.
Early and family life
Stephen was born in Scotland. He earned a degree at King's College in Aberdeen, and studied medicine in Edinburgh. Stephen later married and had one child, Ann.Naval doctor and emigrant
Stephen entered Royal Navy as a surgeon after completing medical studies in 1746 and served on a hospital ship during the Siege of Lorient before emigrating to the British colony of Virginia in 1748. There he established a medical practice in Fredericksburg.Soldier and pioneer
Stephen joined the provincial troops in 1754 and became lieutenant colonel of the Virginia Regiment under George Washington. The unit was based at Winchester, then explored westward across the Appalachians. The unit was involved in battles at Jumonville Glen and Fort Necessity. The following year, Washington, Stephen and the Virginia militia participated in the disastrous Braddock Expedition. In 1756, Stephen led Virginia militiamen against the Creeks to relieve colonists from South Carolina. By 1759, Stephen was in command at Fort Bedford and begged for cattle to be delivered to Fort Pitt.In 1761, Stephen had received cattle and other goods necessary to organize and fund the Timberlake Expedition, which attempted to reconcile British and Cherokee interests following the Anglo-Cherokee War. In the summer of 1763, settlers complained of raids by Delaware and Shawnees on South Branch settlements so that many inhabitants of Hampshire County had abandoned their homes, so in August the governor authorized Stephen to draft 500 men from the militias of Hampshire, Culpeper, Fauquier, Loudoun and Frederick counties and the next month told them to continue guarding the posts on the South Branch and Patterson Creek, lest the Native Americans retaliate for their loss that summer at Bushy Run. While Captain Charles Lewis escorted 60 former settler prisoners back to Fort Pitt in 1764, Stephen had assumed command of the Virginia Regiment from Washington and traveled westward to assist in putting down Pontiac's Rebellion.
When the American Revolutionary War broke out, Stephen offered his services to the Continental Army, again serving under Washington. He was with the army during the New York and New Jersey campaigns of 1776 and early 1777, and as a major general he was given command of a division in Washington's army during the defense of Philadelphia. In the October 1777 Battle of Germantown, Stephen's men fought in the fog with troops led by General Anthony Wayne. Stephen was accused of being drunk during the battle, and after being convicted in a court martial, he was stripped of his command and cashiered out of the army, making him the only Continental Army general court-martialed and immediately dismissed from the service during the war.