He and his three brothers were orphaned. No record of their parents has yet been found. Stephen gave the incorrect information about his age on his pension papers which had him born in 1746. He was actually probably born in 1753/1754.
Stephen Fluharty enlisted in the year 1775, in the State of Maryland in the Company commanded by Captain George Stricker, of the First Maryland Regiment, commanded by Colonel Smallwood, for the term of the war. That he continued to serve in said corps, or in the service of the United States until the close of the war, when he was discharged from the service at Annapolis, in the State of Maryland, in the year 1782. That he was at the battles of Long Island, White
Plains, Trenton, Princetown, Germantown, Monmouth, Camden, Guilford, Eutaw Springs, Cowpens, and at the Seige of 96.