Baron Von-Steuben - Revolutionary War General
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Vertical File Materials Local History Materials Baron Von Steuben Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County 2005 AMERICAN PROFILES Frederick von Steuben was not the nobleman and Prussian general that he claimed to be, but he was a matchless drillmaster, and he transformed the ragtag Continental Army into a fighting force capable of securing American independence. Amea i i /-/ s-ro Ry. o/D~vpC /99o I LL USTRA A Baron by Allen G. Eastby ebruary 24, 1778 dawned for men who stole shoes from the bleak and cold. Gray Pennsylvania Line. clouds hung heavy across But before the Continentals of the sky, and sleet flogged the Livingston's regiment could finish sentries and quarter guards as they their morning meal of fried fatback paced along lines of log huts. For and mush, the dull routine of the the officers and men of Colonel winter cantonment was interrupted Henry B. Livingston's Regiment, by the appearance of an unan- known as the Fourth Regiment of nounced visitor who had arrived at the New York Line, and for the sol- Valley Forge the previous day. diers of the other regiments of the Of medium height, thickset, Continental Army camped on the heavy-jowled, and course-featured, bare hills surrounding Valley Forge, the stranger wore a sumptuous blue Pennsylvania, the morning held lit- and buff uniform. Atop his head at tle promise. Today, as on every other a rakish angle sat an oversized and day since the army had gone into outrageously cocked hat, while a winter quarters, detachments would lustrous fur cloak hung across his chop wood and haul water, trudge to soulders. Without so much as a by- the commissary to draw rations your-leave he descended on the regi- (cornmeal on this day-there was no ment, fingering threadbare blan- meat in the encampment save a little kets, deftly examining muskets, and salt pork), and dig new "neces- testing bayonet points with a prac- saries." Several courts martial ticed thumb. pended, and two prisoners, one The officer apparently spoke no from the Fourth New York and the English, but when he realized that other from the Second New York, Captain Benjamin Walker, one of remained locked in the quarter the company commanders, under- guard's hut. In the afternoon they stood his heavily accented French, faced "picketing"-hanging by the foreigner directed to the Ameri- their thumbs-for two hours, a pun- can questions the likes of which the ishment the New York Line reserved officers of the New York Line had 28 "WASHINGTONAND STEUBENAT VALLEYFORGE" BY HOWARDPYLE (1896);COURTESY OF THE BOSTONPUBLIC LIRRARn III .. .-I 4&. E&KI;t 'R. *- .%I., r~ never before heard. What was their what I'ordre mixte was. He also ularly odd to Walker that almost ev- battle drill? How many volleys thought the Fourth New York's bat- ery Continental regiment had its could the regiment fire every min- tle drill-the "'64," a British army own battle drill. After all, in the ute? Did they fight l'ordre mixte or drill published in 1764-was as good British Army there were at least I'ordre profound? as Colonel Lewis Nicola's or Colo- twelve different systems of drills in Walker did his best to answer the nel Timothy Pickerking's drill, the use. questions, but though he had com- Norfolk drill, the British "'72," or When the visitor left to continue manded a company of Continentals the French system of drill followed his inspection of the encampment, since June 1775 and was considered by some regiments of the Pennsylva- the Fourth New York breathed a col- an excellent officer, he had no idea nia Line. And it did not seem partic- lective sigh of relief. By 1778, the -- 30 "MARCH TO VALLEY FORGE,DECEMBER 16. 1777" BY WILLIAM8 T TREGO(1883), COURTESY OF THE VALLEYFORGE HISTORICALSOCIETY 1·1 I I · I I I - i i I I I _ I I - I I rF;·.·$··iT:~.· * Continentals had considerable expe- the Continentals' affection. But by The situation appeared bleak when rience with foreign officers. A few, and large, officers and men alike George Washington's tattered army Hike the hard-swearing General Jo- shared George Washington's view marched into its winter encampment fhannes De Kalb and the thoroughly that the army of the Revolution at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in competent chief of engineers, Gen- would be better off if the pompous December 1777 (above). But !eral Louis Duportail, had earned the Europeans, here to make a fortune Washington's leadership-and >grudging respect of the men and the and a name, went home. Prussian drillmaster Frederick von admiration of the officers. Several, Yet, the foreigner who visited the Steuben's military know-how- like the young Marquis de Lafay- Fourth New York that bleak morn- overcame the odds to turn the army ette, had actually managed to win ing, after muddying his polished into an effective fighting force. i~~-; T~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~31 31 i :1C1 ··i . -·;:.·- :. :··: ·:·r-_ ,i: ·· ·-?;· :1· '%Lc:· ,.0 .'ir 1 a , f I > > " . 01". 4 ;i1 . rsar .} When Frederick von Steuben boots inspecting the "necessaries," first son of Wilhelm von Steuben, a arrived at Valley Forge, the hadn't demanded that the soldiers lieutenant of engineers in the Prus- soldiers of the American clean them for him. Far from scoff- sian army, and his wife, Maria Jus- army had only a sketchy ing at the regiment's battle honors, tina Dorothea von Jagow. Lieuten- knowledge of the military he had nodded vigorous approval ant Steuben, who was the grandson skills required for effective when he learned that the "Fightin' of a tenant farmer and the son of a combat, and there was no Fourth" had participated in the bat- minister, had no valid claim to the uniformity in the systems of tle of Saratoga. Even though his aristocratic "von." His family drilling employed by the jacket was draped with ribbons and name had been Steube; Wilhelm various brigades. Ignoring stars, he had squatted by the cook tacked on the "n" for the same rea- the "prejudice which some fires and sampled cornmeal mush son his father had added "von"- officers entertained . with his fingers. Altogether a most to associate his family with aristoc- that to drill a recruit was a remarkable event, Walker confided racy. But both Wilhelm's wife Maria sergeant's duty and to his brother officers, especially and his mother were members of i: beneath the station of an when one considered that the visitor junior (though impoverished). officer," Steuben personally was none other than Frederick Wil- branches of noble families. trained a model company of liam, Baron von Steuben, a former Shortly after Friedrich's birth, his soldiers, providing an lieutenant general in the army of was promoted to captain. But : i father example from which the Frederick the GreatKing of Prus- even at this rank, having a young i i Il entire twelve-thousand-man sia. And, if that wasn't startling son to consider and a wife who. I b force was soon indoctri- enough, the Prussian baron had of- yearned to live in a style well beyond ii nated in the key aspects fered to serve in the Continental the means of a junior officer, Cap- I1 I of marching, manual Army without rank or pay and to tain Steuben found it necessary to 3: i: · exercises, and battlefield undertake any duty he was assigned. leave Prussia for the better pay of conduct. the Russian Army, in which he he Fourth New York's re- served for eight years (1731-1739). markable visitor was born The prospect of war between Aus- on September 17, 1730 in tria and Prussia eventually enticed Magdeburg, a garrison town in the the Steubens back to their home- Kingdom of Prussia. Baptized Fri- land, and in 1744 fourteen-year-old edrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Friedrich served as a volunteer Augustin von Steuben, he was the alongside his father, now a major, at 32 "THE CAMP OF THE AMERICANARMY AT VALLEYFORGE, FEBRUARY 1778" BY EDWINAUSTIN ABBEY; COURTESY OF THE PENNSYLVANIAHISTORICAL AND MUSEUMCOMMISSIiON PHOTOGRAPHBY HUNT COMMERCIALPHOTOGRAPHY I |e siege of Prague. The following bile French and Austrian forces, called Freicorps stressed the use of ear, the boy joined the Lestwitz that the young PrVssian polished the individual initiative, marksmanship, !egiment as a standard-bearer. Af- military skills that would later aid small-unit tactics, and mobility. rr that, advancement came rela- the cause of American indepen- Raised only for the duration of the vely swiftly for the young man, dence. war, usually by officers noted for bnsidering that he had neither enterprise and daring, the Freicorps .iends nor family connections at were light troops, fighting in ex- Durt to aid him: promotion to en- "I commenced tended order and operating far from gn in 1749, to second lieutenant in the watchful eyes of generals and in- 752, and to first lieutenant in operations by spectors. 759.* drafting 120 men Soldiers in such units, it was Like all young Prussian army of- quickly discovered, could not be cers, Steuben was expected to mas- from the lire, whom flogged into blind obedience. But a r the craft of soldiering. "Steu- I formed into a high level of morale and discipline n's regiment," notes biographer could be developed and maintained )hn McAuley Palmer, "was a strict guard for the by stressing and building bonds of ;hool in which he learned every de- mutual regard, admiration, and il of the military business and general in chief. I trust between officers and men.