Phineas Stearns (February 5, 1736 - March 27, 1798) was a farmer and blacksmith from Watertown, Massachusetts. In 1773 he participated in the

Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea ...

. He was also a soldier in the American Revolutionary Army at Lake George (1756) and the leader of a company of militiamen at Dorchester Heights during the

Siege of Boston The siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. New England militiamen prevented the movement by land of the British Army, which was garrisoned in what was then the peninsular town ...

. His efforts in the

Battles of Lexington and Concord The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord ...

earned him the rank of captain. Stearns declined a colonel's commission due to the poor health of his wife, Hannah Bemis, who left five children in his care when she passed. He later married Bemis' cousin, Esther Sanderson. His career in public service ended in 1776. He died on March 27, 1798. In 1884 historian

Francis Samuel Drake Sir Francis Samuel Drake, 1st Baronet (1729 – 19 October 1789) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence, rising to the rank of Rear-admiral of the Red. Family and the Seven ...

wrote, " tearnswas distinguished for his benevolent and cheerful disposition, and for strong common sense and strict integrity."

References

Bibliography

Boston Tea Party Museum.com
* * * * 1736 births 1798 deaths Continental Army soldiers People from Watertown, Massachusetts People of colonial Massachusetts {{US-bio-stub