Baron von Steuben: Prussian Contributor to American Military History

There is no doubt that the Americans would not have won their revolution without the help of foreign military intervention. One of the most valuable assets to the Americans was Baron von Steuben who aided General George Washington in the training of the Continental armies and set forth the regulations for the American Army.

Friedrich Wilhelm Augustin, Baron von Steuben was born 17 September 1730, in Magdeburg, Prussia. The Baron, who attained his rank in the service of the Hohenzollern-Hechingen court, was an 18th-century military brat, born to a father who served as a lieutenant in the Prussian army.

Baron von Steuben’s Service in the Prussian Army

At the age of seventeen, von Steuben joined the Prussian army. He continued to progress in the Prussian army until 1762, when he became an aide-de-camp to King Frederick II, having served as a captain on the king’s general staff during the Seven Years’ War (the French and Indian War in the American colonies). He was discharged in 1763, the same year the war came to an end.

Von Steuben then looked to serve militarily elsewhere. He attempted to join the armies of France, Austria and Baden, a German state, before he set his sights on America. What followed was a great and honorable service in the American army.

Timeline of von Steuben’s Service in the American Revolution

While in Paris in 1777, von Steuben wished to be commissioned an officer in the American Continental Army. Through the recommendations of Count Claude Louis de Saint-Germain, the French minister of War, von Steuben was represented as a lieutenant general to Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane and put forth as a valuable volunteer to the cause. Franklin wrote to the Continental Congress, recommending von Steuben as a potential aid to General George Washington.

• On 1 December 1777, von Steuben arrived at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
• January 1778: von Steuben was received formally by the Continental Congress and was thankfully welcomed to the colonies. He shortly reported to General George Washington in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
• On 23 February 1778, he was tasked with training the troops at Valley Forge.
• 5 May 1778 marks the date for von Steuben’s promotion of Inspector General with the rank of Major General. The position was earned through his great success with the training of the troops at Valley Forge.
• In 1780, von Steuben’s Preparations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States became the standard training manual for all drills and regulations of the American army.
• Also in 1780, von Steuben accompanied Major General Nathaniel Greene to his command of the Southern Department. He then trained and organized troops in Virginia, who were sent to Greene in the field.
• In 1781, the Baron served under the Marquis de Lafayette in Virginia and commanded one of the three divisions at the pivotal Battle of Yorktown.
• In 1784, Baron von Steuben was honorably discharged from his service in the army.

For his service in the American Revolution, Baron von Steuben was granted American citizenship and received an annual pension of $2500. The Baron died 28 November 1794 in Steubenville, New York.

Baron von Steuben’s contribution to the Continental Army in the American Revolution is as significant to American success as French naval intervention at the Battle of Yorktown. Without either, the Americans would not have won the war for their independence. Von Steuben established regulations for the U.S. military, fathering a training tradition that is extant to this day.

Sources:

Alden, John R. General Friedrich Von Steuben The American Revolution Homepage. 1998-2004.

Bobrick, Benson. Angel in the Whirlwind: The Triumph of the American Revolution. New York: Penguin Books, 1998.

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Baron Von Steuben June 19, 2006.

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