Charles Stevenson entered the Army as an Ensign in the 10th Foot on 30 March 1775, and on 31 May the following year he moved to the 25th Foot as a Lieutenant. He served for nearly all the American War, fighting in the Battles of Long Island, York Island, King's Bridge, Fort Lee, White Plains, Prince Town, Delaware, and was at the capture of St. Lucie and in the five naval actions under Admirals Parker and Rodney, where his Regiment, the 5th Foot, to which he had moved as a Captain on 28 October 1778, served as mariners on board ship. He was Aide-de-Camp to the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Henry Clinton, bringing home the dispatcher of the disastrous termination of Lord Cornwallis's Campaign at Yorktown. He was Quarter-Master-General to General Simcoe in Canada, Adjutant-General to the Duke of Gloucester, going with him to the Texel and commanding two battalions of the 5th Regiment, during which Campaign he was appointed Colonel in the Army and to the York Rangers, which at the time were involved with raising forces for service in Africa in connection with the abolition of the Slave Trade. He was made major-General on 25 July 1810 and Lieut-General on 1 January 1814. He died in London on 22 June 1828.