![]() ![]() In late August 1777 the Americans attempted a raid on Staten Island, and it was a disastrous failure. ![]() One observer was unimpressed, commenting, "How the ass glories in the lion's skin." Greene confided to Steward’s superior officer that “If the Young Gentleman thinks his being a man of fortune or having a liberal education authorizes him to insult and abuse People with impunity – he will find himself mistaken.” In 1778, Steward celebrated the British withdrawal from Philadelphia by dressing in red to mock the enemy troops. ![]() On a separate occasion Steward was accused of “abusing inhabitants and encouraging soldiers to plunder.” After Steward insulted the man who made the allegations, Brigadier General Nathaniel Green sent to inquire about the accusations. After Colonel Gold Selleck Silliman intervened on Phelps’ behalf, Steward “grew warm,” was arrested, and said “I’ll go to my tent – all you can do is take my commission, but I am a gentleman, and will put it out of your power, for I will resign it, and in less than two hours will be revenged on you, God damn you.” Steward was put on trial and was found to have had provocation to strike Phelps and was not guilty of threatening Silliman (Phelps had his own court-martial, and was acquitted of cowardice). Steward had accused Sergeant William Phelps of cowardice, and then slapped him in the face after an exchange of words. In September 1776, he was court-martialed for striking a Sergeant and threatening the life of a colonel. John Steward found himself in trouble throughout his military career, but not always when fighting the British. By early 1777 he was a captain in the newly formed Second Maryland Regiment, and on April 17, he was promoted again, to major. Steward continued his service with the Continental Army through the rest of 1776, Fighting at the battles of Harlem Heights White Plains Fort Washington Trenton and Princeton. At the request of Colonel William Smallwood, George Washington sent the as of yet untested Fifth Independent Company and some New Englanders to cover the retreat, where they aided the rest of the American forces swim or wade across Gowanus Creek, as the bridge had been destroyed the day before. The battle experience of the British and the inexperience of the American soldiers showed during this engagement, as the British were able to outflank the American line, forcing a general rout. On August 27 1776, the first full-scale engagement between American and British forces began at the Battle of Brooklyn (sometimes referred to as the Battle of Long Island). One of seven independent companies initially formed to guard the Chesapeake Bay coast from potential excursions from the Royal Navy, Steward and the rest of his company soon found themselves on the march to New York to aid General George Washington and the Continental Army in defending the city from the British. Because Quakers are pacifists and thus have religious objections to fighting and war, John was almost certainly expelled from his Meeting for joining the Continental Army, if he had not already been expelled for prior support for the American Revolution. 1751), and two younger siblings, twins Elizabeth and Stephen (b. He was the second of four children, with an older sister named Sarah (b. ![]() Steward was born into a Quaker family of the Clifts Meeting (Calvert County, Maryland) on December 8, 1753, to mother Anna and father Stephen, a prominent merchant. Before he became a decorated officer in the American Revolution, John Steward began his military service as the first lieutenant of John Allen Thomas' Fifth Independent Company, primarily made up of residents from Saint Mary’s County, although Steward himself was from Anne Arundel, in August of 1776. ![]()
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