1727), and his paternal grandfather was Erasmus Stevens, a native of Boston,[2] a lieutenant with the Military Company of the Massachusetts.

A member of the Sons of Liberty, he began his career in Paddock's Artillery Company along with the likes of Paul Revere and Thomas Crafts.

[4] Not long after the Boston Tea Party he moved to Rhode Island and there, upon receiving news of the Battle of Lexington, volunteered for the Continental Army.

He was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Company of Rhode Island Artillery in May 1775, and fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill under Major General Nathanael Greene.

He was the initial commander of Fort Stevens, which was named after him, which was built to protect Hell Gate from a potential British invasion.

He married his first wife, Rebecca Hodgden (sometimes spelled Hodgdon), in Providence, Rhode Island, on October 11, 1774.

Together, Ebenezer and Rebecca were the parents of:[2] After the death of his first wife in July 1783, he married secondly to Lucretia (née Ledyard) Sands (1756–1846) on May 4, 1784, in New York City.