[5] Stevens began his military career as a lieutenant colonel in the 1775 Battle of Great Bridge, where he commanded a battalion of riflemen,[6] the Culpeper Minutemen.

Stevens raised and equipped his regiment and marched to rendezvous with General George Washington, his direct commander.

[8] Stevens received the public praise of Washington after both Brandywine and the subsequent Battle of Germantown.

"[8] Stevens's statement is thought to have convinced Horatio Gates to engage the British rather than retreat.

[12] Stevens returned to the battlefield to lead a brigade of 750 men at the Siege of Yorktown.