Steuben, Friederich Wilhelm von b. September 17, 1730; Magdeburg, Prussia d. November 28, 1794; Remsen, New York
As a Prussian-born general in the American Revolution, Steuben gave the Continental army a significant edge by adapting European military drill to American soldiers and providing invaluable siege engineering advice at the Battle of Yorktown.
An enthusiastic republican, Steuben also played a significant role in advocating federalism, the Constitution, northwest expansion,
Statue of Baron von Steuben, Washington, D.C. (Library of Congress)
and the formation of a military academy in the early years of the United States.
Born in his father’s Prussian army camp, Steuben was expected to follow family tradition and become a Prussian officer himself. At sixteen he joined the Breslaus Lestwitz Regiment as an officer and saw action at the siege of Schwerdnitz Fortress (1754) and the battles of Prague (1757) and Torgau (1760). The end of the Seven Years’ War meant a scale-down of the Prussian armies, and Steuben, who had served on the staff of Friedrich II, found himself unemployed and used as a diplomatic courier. Patronage from the princess of Wurttemberg found him a job as court grand marshall of the duchy of Hohen- zollern-Hechingen, but Steuben was restless and unhappy as a civilian courtier.
In 1777 Benjamin Franklin, the American ambassador to Paris, and his French counterpart Beaumarchais offered Steuben a place in the Continental army as a drillmaster. Franklin liberally exaggerated his qualifications to George Washington, promoting Steuben to major general and emphasizing the “von” title, which the Steuben family had never used. Steuben arrived at the nadir of American morale, finding Washington at Valley Forge on February 23, 1778. Although unable to speak English, he worked through two translators in French and German to train a “model company” in European-style military drill and then had them train the rest of the Valley Forge contingent.
Steuben’s experience with Americans forced him to reevaluate his Prussian training, and the resulting “Blue Book” of drill combined European military efficiency with American independent thinking and small-unit autonomy. The new training proved so useful to the Continental army that Congress promoted Steuben to major general and inspector general on May 5, 1778. Steuben raised companies in Virginia, commanded a German American division at the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse (June 1778), and proved invaluable as a military engineer during the siege of Yorktown.After the war, Steuben chose to remain in the United States. He became a strong advocate of national defense planning, a military academy, and a more centralized federal government, often lobbying through his connections within the Society of the Cincinnati. A promoter of the Ordinance of 1787, he encouraged settlement of the Ohio Valley and was pleased when the settlers named Steubenville, Ohio, in his honor. He opposed the Articles of Confederation so vociferously that he sup
ported Shays’ Rebellion and even corresponded with Prince Heinrich of Prussia about accepting a regency of America until a stronger central government could be formed. Luckily, the Prussians declined in favor of a treaty of amity, and Steuben remained a devoted American republican.
The state of New York gave Steuben a land grant, where he built an estate at Remsen. In his later years, he served as a trustee of New York University, and, greatly pleased with the new Constitution, attended his friend Washington’s first inauguration in 1789. Steuben never married, and rumors followed him from Prussia to America that he was homosexual. He lived so discreetly that while another German officer, Lieutenant Gotthold Frederick Enslin, was drummed out of the Continental army for sodomy, Steuben was never investigated. However, since the 1970s, Steuben has become a figure promoted by proponents of the integration of gays and lesbians in the military, and his memorial in Washington, D.C., is a focal point for rallies.
Margaret Sankey
See also Muhlenberg, John Peter Gabriel; Steuben Society of America; Travel Literature, German-U.S.
References and Further Reading
Doyle, Joseph. Frederick William von Steuben and the American Revolution. New York: B. Franklin, 1970.
Palmer, John McAuley. General von Steuben. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat, 1966.
Ueberhorst, Horst. Frederich Wilhelm von Steuben. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: German Language, 1981.