Olney, Stephen, soldier, born in North Providence, Rhode Island, in October, 1755; died there, 23 November, 1832, entered the Revolutionary army in 1775, participated in the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, was in the Jersey retreat, and wounded at Springfield. Late in the war he was detached to join Lafayette, and served with him at Yorktown, where he was active in the capture of a British redoubt, and received several bayonet wounds. He subsequently represented North providence in the legislature for twenty years, besides holding town offices.
from:
Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske. Six volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889 & edited Stanley L. Klos, 1999 Estoric.com.
Lovell, Louise Lewis. Israel Angell, Colonel of the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment. [New York]: Knickerbocker Press, 1921.
By 1774 Stephen Olney had become a private in a chartered military company, called the North-Providence Rangers. In May of 1775 Stephen started the war in Hitchcock's 14th Continentals of 1775 as an ensign, under Captain John Angell and Lieutenant Coggeshall Olney. In January of 1776 he was a lieutenant in Captain Coggeshall Olney's company, with 2nd lieutenant James Bridges, of Hitchcock's 11th Continentals of 1776. By August 27 1776 Stephen is a lieutenant in Captain Tew's company and by January 1777 he is a lieutenant in Captain Jeremiah Olney's company. Stephen becomes a Captain in the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment in February 1777, and with the combination of the RI regiments into the Rhode Island Regiment in 1781 he was given command of the Light Infantry Company.
from:
Williams, Catherine R. Biography of Revolutionary Heroes; Containing the Life of Brigadier Gen. William Barton, and Also, of Captain Stephen Olney. New York: Wiley & Putnam, 1839.
He was cousins with Jeremiah Olney and Coggeshall Olney.
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