Overview
Baron de Friedrich W. A. “von” Steuben came to America claiming to be a titled noble and a Lieutenant General in the Prussian Army. His grandfather added the “von” to elevate the family’s prestige and the Baron title is attributed to an award of the Order of Fidelity by a German princess. While the title claim has some validity, his claims of nobility were suspect and his rank in the Prussian Army, Captain, was vastly exaggerated.[5] However dubious his credentials, Steuben possessed extensive military education that greatly exceeded the technical military knowledge of American officers.
Steuben quickly gained Washington’s confidence leading to his Congressional appointment as Inspector General. In this capacity Steuben excelled and earned his military reputation. As Inspector General he was responsible for training the Army and is best known as the drillmaster of Valley Forge. During that horrible winter of 1777-8, he led an intensive training program instructing officers and enlisted men in European fighting tactics required to engage the British army in open field battles.
The following winter, Steuben authored the first United States Army military code in three parts – a drill manual, a set of official regulations governing army activities, and a treatise on the conduct of officers and enlisted men. Washington and the Board of War widely praised this manual.
However, Steuben’s Continental Army service was not without controversy. Steuben desperately sought to command men in battle. Eventually, Washington relented and sent him south in 1780 to join General Nathanial Greene’s Southern Army. On his way Steuben’s orders were changed when the British under General Benedict Arnold invaded Virginia. Washington was keen on capturing Arnold while protecting Virginia from destruction. In this capacity Steuben failed. He clashed with local militia leaders, turned out to be an ineffective battlefield tactician and was eventually replaced in command by Lafayette.
However, in the end, his statue in Lafayette Park across from the White House is a well-earned tribute as he led the transformation of the Continental Army into a competent fighting force which could hold its own against the British Army on the open battlefield.
Biographies
Bowen, Francis. “Life of Baron Steuben.” In Library of American Biography, edited by Jared Sparks, Vol. 9. New York: Harper, 1848.
Chase, Philander Dean. “Baron von Steuben in the War of Independence.” Duke University, 1972.
Cronau, Rudolf, and Don Heinrich Tolzman. The Army of the American Revolution and Its Organizer. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 2004.
Jones, Mary Helen Eppright, and Lorena Start Jersen. Steuben: The Baron and the Town. Remsen, NY: Remsen-Steuben Historical Society, 1994.
Lockhart, Paul Douglas. The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army. 1st ed. [Washington, D.C.] : New York, NY: Smithsonian Books ; Collins, 2008.
North, William, and G. Martin Sleeman. Baron von Steuben: Major General, Inspector General & Drillmaster, Continental Army. Utica, NY: North Country Books, 1990.
Palmer, John McAuley. General von Steuben. Port Washington, N.Y: Kennikat Press, 1966.
Richards, Augustus L., Mary Helen Eppright Jones, and Edward L Jones. Washington, Steuben and the Continental Army: Servants of Democracy. Remsen, NY: Friends of Baron Steuben, 2000.
Memoirs and Papers
Steuben, Frierich. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben Papers 1778-1851 (bulk 1779-1781). 4 vols. New York Historical Society, n.d.
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