George Washington Greene

“ For Congress was once more sitting in Philadelphia, in the old hall where the Declaration of Independence had been made. But it was there with a task to perform, to which legislative bodies are altogether unequal: with a responsibility weighing upon it which none but a strong executive could have borne, vainly trying to govern by treasury boards and boards of war, to call out the resources of the country by requisitions and recommendations, and to decide questions which demanded immediate decision as they decided upon laws and acts which demanded careful, full, and deliberate discussion. ”

“ To have risen during the Seven Years War from a lieutenant of infantry to a responsible office on Frederick's own staff was a surer mark of superiority than the command of a division in any other army of those days. To have adapted the improvements of Prussian discipline to an army of freemen fighting for freedom required a fertility of resources, a familiarity with general principles, and a knowledge of human nature, which none but minds of a high order possess. ”

“ Never was the discipline of the troops more perfect than during the last two years of the war; and it is surely not claiming too much for Steuben to say that the sense of duty and subordination which that discipline cultivated was not the least among the causes which enabled an impotent Congress peacefully to disband an injured and irritated army. Authentic anecdotes have been preserved of the pride which he took in showing off to the best advantage the acquisitions of his military children, and of the confidence with which they came to look up to him as a father. ”

“ Here is a sword to sell, perhaps something more; but what are swords good for but to cut men to pieces? and it is rather hard that I, who have passed over fifty of my seventy-one years in trying to teach men how to take care of themselves and convince them that they are never so happy as when they live like brothers — I, who have often said that I never knew a bad peace or a good war, should in my old age become a sharpener of swords and swordsmen. ”

“ In the military history of our Revolution, if we class men according to their services, no one after Washington and Greene stands so high as Steuben. For the services which Lafayette rendered, important as they were, were rather the effects of influence and position than of individual superiority. All that Steuben owed to position was the opportunity of action; the action itself was the fruit of his own strong will and thorough knowledge of his science. He was the creator of our regular army, the organizer of our military economy. ”

“ In nothing did Steuben's superiority to a mere martinet appear more decidedly than in his passing the manual by and beginning with manœuvres. The sight of men advancing, retreating, wheeling, deploying, attacking with the bayonet, changing front, and all with promptness and precision, made an impression upon the spectator which no perfection in the mere handling of the musket could have produced. ”

“ At no time in the course of the war had the condition of the army been more distressing. The life at Valley Forge was a daily struggle with cold and hunger; the log and mud huts in which the troops lived were an imperfect protection against the rigor of the winter, made doubly severe by the want of proper clothing and nutritious food. The frequent failure of supplies had familiarized the minds of the men with the idea of mutiny, and brought the officers to feel that if not almost justifiable, it was at least inevitable. ”

“ Then for the first time, perhaps, certainly for the first time with any approach to personal interest, he heard the story of the revolted colonies, of their perils and their resources, of the sympathy which France and Spain felt for them, and of the danger that with all their courage and resolution, with all the secret aid of their European friends, they might still fail for want of a man like him to organize and discipline their citizen soldiers. ”

“ And in all these various duties he demeaned himself so wisely, so tempered and controlled his ardent nature, and manifested throughout such elevation of sentiment and such pure devotion to his adopted country, as to prove that Pickering had interpreted his character well, when in the midst of his perplexities he wrote to him, “Courage, dear baron; those talents which know how to do good without giving umbrage and causing jealousy are always sure to triumph ultimately over all obstacles.” ”

“ Franklin must have said to himself as he scanned the sun-embrowned face, the strong features, the well-rounded forehead, the bushy eyebrows, uplifted as if the clear orbs they shaded were ever on the watch, the large nose not wholly Roman but very near it, the full lower lip suggestive of good cheer fully appreciated, and the projecting chin, all borne with the upright precision of a man who had worn a uniform from his childhood. ”

“ His companions were to be men who spoke in whispers, and bowed long and low; his duties, the ushering in and out the presence chamber those of higher rank, and seeing that those of lower rank were duly attended, each in his degree; stifling intrigues, allaying discontents, composing discords; watching over the details of a great household — for a court is nothing more — and giving them an air of dignity by personal gravity and official decorum. ”

“ If some officers were still compelled to mount guard in an old blanket cut into the shape of a dressing-gown, they knew, at least, how to perform the duty of officers on guard. Washington, in general orders, praised their progress and thanked the man to whom they owed it. But now arose the question of converting this temporary inspectorship into a permanent inspectorship with corresponding rank in the line. A reform in drill was but a small part of the real work to be done. The whole organization of the army required reform in all its parts. ”

“ Germain had chosen his man well; an experienced and scientific soldier, for no other could have done such work as he was appointed to do; a man experienced in men, also, and both too wise and too honorable to become the tool of a faction. Gates loaded him with civilities and urged him to stay at his house. But, meeting the civilities with polite appreciation, he refused the dangerous hospitality.
It became apparent that in counseling Steuben to assume a rank unknown in the American army, Vergennes, St. Germain, Montbarey, and Miranda had proved themselves wise in their generation. ”

“ Like most of those who had been brought into close relations with the Congress of the confederation, he was the advocate of a strong and effective central government, and, had he lived, would have witnessed the overthrow of the federalists with as keen regret as Hamilton himself. Among his studies of this period is a plan for a peace establishment of the army which Washington approved, and a few years later he proposed a plan of fortifications for New York which became the basis of the plan adopted upon the approach of our second war with England. ”

“ His first siege had been the siege of Prague, as a volunteer, when a boy of fourteen; his last the siege of Schweidnitz, as Frederick's aid, at the close of the Seven Years War. And now, in the trenches at Yorktown, he saw another great war drawing rapidly to its end, and bringing with it the end of his own long and honorable military career. He was the only American officer who had ever been present at a siege, and here, as on so many occasions, his experience was of great service. ”

“ And here again we see his superiority over mere formalists and drill masters. With a thorough knowledge of all that had been done, he knew also what it was possible to do. Fully aware that in European armies a man who had been drilled three months was still held to be nothing more than a recruit, he was equally aware that in the American army he could not count upon more than two months for transforming a recruit into a soldier. ”

“ But next to the inspectorship, the field of his most important services was Virginia, in the winter of 1780-81, and during the memorable and decisive siege of Yorktown. When Greene was appointed to the command of such fragments of the southern army as had survived the fatal day of Camden, Steuben went with him because there was “an army to be created.” With Greene his relations had been of the friendliest and most intimate kind, from the day when they sat down with Hamilton and Laurens, in Steuben's straitened quarters at Valley Forge, to discuss the first draft of the inspectorship. ”

“ Forced into the army by necessity he had resolutely made his way to a command, fighting with equal desperation under different banners, and entering at last the Prussian service in season to take an important part in the Seven Years War. Frederick, who wanted just such a man to oppose to the leaders of the enemy's Croats and Pandours, put him at the head of a free corps, where his dauntless courage and enterprising genius had full play. Steuben became his adjutant-general and followed him through his brilliant campaign of 1758. ”

“ Hospitals, stores, laboratories, every place, every thing was open to inspection and inspected.” The exact, careful man was sure to be praised and often rewarded; the careless to be sternly reproved. It took little to move Steuben's anger; undue delay, misplaced hesitation were sure to do it, and out came a storm of oaths, German first, then French, and then both ludicrously mingled; and when the stock was exhausted, turning to his aid, he would say, “My dear Walker, or my dear Duponceau, come and swear for me in English; these fellows will not do what I bid them.” ”

“ Germain seemed hurt at his decision, but whatever his knowledge of other men may have been, he knew Steuben thoroughly; and instead of breaking with him he invited him to pass a few days at his house. This at least Steuben could not refuse. After dinner the Spanish Embassador, Count Aranda, came in; not, perhaps, altogether by accident. “Here is a man,” said St. Germain as he presented Steuben to him, “who will risk nothing, consequently he will gain nothing.” ”

“ He had been constantly moving to and fro with his life in his hand, subject to the chances of a hair's-breadth more or a hair's-breadth less, in the line of a musket-bullet or cannon-ball. He had often seen men whom he had messed with in the morning lying around him at night wounded, or dying, or dead. ”

“ Meanwhile the guns of the fortress fired a lieutenant-general's salute, and the ships in the harbor, displaying their flags, joined in the national welcome. At that day's dinner Steuben first heard of the surrender of Burgoyne, and hailed the tidings as a happy omen. The day following he visited the fortifications, and the next reviewed the troops. One of his earliest cares, also, was to write to Washington and Congress, expressing his “desire” to deserve the title of a citizen of America by fighting for her liberty. ”

“ As a landholder he could indulge his generous impulses, and more than one who had no other claim upon him than what the name of old soldier gave, received a grant of sixty or a hundred acres, either as a free gift or on terms that differed little from it. As a farmer he could indulge his old habits of methodic organization and a methodic division of his time. ”

“ Upon this point the testimony of Washington, Greene, Knox, Hamilton, Pickering, Peters, is uniform and decisive. He claimed nothing to which his claim is not fully borne out by what they wrote and said. His system of reviews, reports, and inspection gave efficiency to the soldier, confidence to the commander, and saved the treasury not less than six hundred thousand dollars.
The private life of a man so large a portion of whose life was passed in the performance of public duties affords little room for the growth of distinctive characteristics. ”

“ While he was yet some miles from camp, Washington came out to meet him and conduct him to his quarters. There a guard of twenty-five men had been stationed, with an officer at their head. Steuben would have declined the honor, saying that he was merely a volunteer. “The whole army,” said Washington, “would gladly stand sentinel for such volunteers.” The next day the troops were mustered, and Washington accompanied Steuben to pass them in review.
During part of his life, at least, Washington was a soldier at heart. ”

“ Steuben's character was passing into a new phase, revealing, as such transitions always do, qualities hitherto unknown to their possessor or those who knew him best. He had had little time for the dreams of youth. Life for him had been full of stern realities. His only ambition, the thirst of military glory, had been imperfectly gratified. He had not won a regiment in two years, as he had promised his friend Henry that he would, but neither had he gone to Hades ”

“ But Congress again wearied and vexed him by delays, for which the embarrassed condition of the public finances was but a partial justification, and which caused, at times, “the loss of months where it was dangerous to lose days.” Private jealousies and personal claims still continued to interfere with the introduction of essential changes. They who have studied the history of this period in the letters of the actors, know that not all our statesmen were wise, not all our officers high-minded, not all our citizens more devoted to their country than to their own pockets. ”