Stephen F. Brown
Union Army officer

Stephen F. Brown (April 4, 1841 – September 8, 1903) was a Union Army officer in the American Civil War. He became famous for entering the Battle of Gettysburg armed only with a camp hatchet. He soon acquired a sword and pistol from a Confederate he took prisoner. Brown distinguished himself in battle and aiding other soldiers.
After the war, he graduated from Albany Law School, and moved to the growing city of Chicago to set up a practice. He became a businessman in addition to attorney. Brown rebuilt his practice and businesses after losing multiple properties in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Two decades later he returned to Swanton, Vermont to aid his aging parents.
The 13th Vermont Infantry honored Brown by placing a statue of him on the Regimental Monument at Gettysburg.
Early life
Stephen Flavius Brown was born to Samuel G. Brown and Anne M. (Crawford) Brown in Swanton, Vermont, on April 4, 1841.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16030744. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1841, 1903 and 1871.
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This entry incorporates text from “Stephen F. Brown” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.