Having a strong desire to own a home of his own, he purchased a house, with a generous lot of half an acre, overlooking the river. The house was of two stories, seven rooms, with a barn in the rear connected by a woodshed. The principal wharf was at the foot of the street, and here Major Stevens kept his boat. The house had an ill repute as being unhealthy, some of the former inmates having died from consumption. When cautioned on this score, he replied: “It is high time some one took the house who can give it a good reputation.” He had the cellar and grounds thoroughly drained, sunk a well, blasting through a ledge of rock, and put the grounds and garden in fine order. He took great pains with, and pleasure in, the garden, raising all kinds of vegetables. They kept poultry also, and among them was a flock of twelve ducklings that every day solemnly waddled down to the river in single file, and as solemnly waddled up the hill again after their daily bath and paddling in the river, an unceasing source of interest and pleasure to the children.
The government was contemplating the fortification of the more important points on the Pacific coast, and to an inquiry as to his willingness to be sent to that distant field, he writes the following characteristic reply:—
“As regards engineer duty on the Pacific coast for a year or two, I should be well pleased with it did I feel certain that I was physically in condition to undertake it. If the passage thither should be an easy one, as mostly by sea, I have little doubt that on my arrival at the scene of my duties my lameness would be essentially gone. If the journey should be overland, I should hardly be able to bear the fatigues of it in less than two or three months. If ordered, I should go without hesitation, and do the best I could. I must leave this matter entirely with you. No officer should feel at liberty to decline a distant duty of this kind, and in this case, as in all others, let the public interests alone have weight.”
Ambitious he was, but with a lofty ambition, not to aggrandize himself, but to serve his country, ever ready to sacrifice personal interests and feelings to the public service. In this and other letters he displays a certain impatience that personal convenience or interests should be consulted at all in matters of public duty.
When the brevets were announced, Lieutenant Stevens was brevetted “Captain, August 20, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco,” and “Major, September 13, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Chapultepec.”
He took great pains to secure justice to all the engineer officers in the way of brevets, conceiving that he was in a measure responsible therefor because, as adjutant of the corps in Mexico, the engineer reports had been made through him; he had had charge of the records, and had been closely consulted by the chief, General Totten, and spent no little time and effort in behalf of those who had been overlooked.
The engineers felt themselves treated with injustice in the matter of brevet pay, for while the officers of artillery, cavalry, and infantry were allowed full pay when assigned to duty according to their brevet rank, the former were denied the same right, although frequently placed in charge of works and assigned to duties above their nominal rank. They had other grievances, too, in the allowances for rations, horses, etc. One so disinterested and indefatigable in behalf of his corps and brother officers as Major Stevens would be sure to be often called upon. He took great interest in these matters, and even more in the general reorganization of the army, upon which he corresponded and consulted largely with able and public-spirited young officers of other corps as well as his own.
It was not until November that his friend and classmate, Lieutenant J.F. Gilmer, relieved him of the vouchers and papers relating to Savannah forts. Writing from Washington, November 6, Gilmer says: “Captain Fred. A. Smith would like much to have you here this winter. It is possible you may do the corps a great service by being in Washington this winter.”
A call for service in any direction always appealed strongly to him, and accordingly he determined to visit Washington, as he writes his brother Oliver, under date of Bucksport, December 8, 1848. This letter displays a humorous vein not usual with him, and gives his view of the character and public policy of General Taylor, then just elected President:—
My dear Brother,—I rejoice to learn that you are still in the land of the living, and that that severe and noble pursuit, the law, does not prevent your seeing the lions of the town. But you are very cruel to triumph over us benighted creatures in this region of frosts and snows. In truth we lead a quiet, rational, country life, perhaps as much to be envied as the more attractive life of the great city. I wish you, however, distinctly to understand that we do not suck our paws during the winter, and I feel bound to disabuse you of this misapprehension. That is done still farther down East, I believe. We do not sleep more than twelve or at most fourteen hours a day. We manage to eat three meals per day. But it is hard work; they approximate rather too closely. We drink tea nights, and eat apples mornings. We get the newspapers generally every day, and expect to read the Message to-morrow. By way of diversion, we slide down hill on a moonlight evening. Then there are prayer and conference meetings ad libitum. What a consolation these latter privileges would be to one of your serious turn of mind! I can almost see your grave countenance lighted up with heavenly radiance on such an occasion.