John F. Stevens was one of seven sons of Sarah Halsell Stevens and William Stevens who served Mississippi in the War Between the States.

He was a lieutenant in the Dixie Rebels, Company I, 35th Regiment, Mississippi infantry. The Dixie Rebels were organized at McElroy's Shop eight miles southeast of Louisville and left Winston County in April 1862 and rendezvoused at West Point, Mississippi. He was wounded at Franklin, Tennessee and promoted to Captain.
He served at the siege of Vicksburg and surrendered with Pemberton's army on 4 July 1863. He then went to Georgia and was a prisoner at Ship Island. A few years after the close of the war, he emigrated to Texas where he died from war wounds.

"Lieutenant John F. Stevens was one of the bravest of the brave who espoused the cause of the South during the Civil War. On long marches when his men would become wearied, he would relieve them by carrying their guns for them. When a battle was to be fought, he was always found in the front ranks, and when a retreat was to be made, he was the last man to leave the battlefield. At the battle of Corinth, he was without a sword, but rallied his men with a stick until one of his men fell by his side. He gathered up the gun of his fallen conrade and took from the dead body the cartridge box and buckled it around his body and stood in the front rank and fought like a Trojan hero. He was a man of great fortitude and forbearance, was generous and kind to his men. They all loved him. A few years after the close of the war he emigrated to Texas where he died." [from The Centennial History of Winston County.]

Capt .Stevens and his wife migrated to Texas by 1868 where their four known children were born: Mary "Minnie" Lue, John Flint, Thomas Jefferson, and one unnamed daughter. Stevens died in the Giddings - Dime Box area of Lee County, Texas before 1874 and his grave location is unknown. His widow married John W. Deel, another Civil War veteran, and had three additional children with him - Peter John (1875), Mary Ann (1877), and Sarah "Sallie" Ann (1879).