Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben

“ 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; and in the winter of 1776, while Washington was struggling through the Jerseys and striking his daring blow at the German mercenaries in Trenton, Steuben was making at Montpellier the acquaintance of the Earl Warwick and Earl Spencer. So intimate did they become that he resolved to extend his circle of travel and make them a visit in England. Paris lay in his way, and as the Count St. Germain had recently been made minister of war, he could not resist the temptation of passing a few days there and congratulating him on his advancement. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The wars with the Indians had taught Americans to fight, like their adversaries, in loose bodies instead of close masses, each man using his rifle or musket to the best advantage according to his own judgment. These bodies of skirmishers had turned the day against English and German regulars at Bemis's Heights and Stillwater. Steuben organized them into a light infantry with a drill and discipline of their own. Frederick, meditating upon the suggestions of the American war, saw how much such troops might be made to assist the operations of his dense masses, and accepted the improvement. ”

“ From good old Baron Steuben, we find, not a manuscript essay on the method of arranging a battle, but a commercial draft, in a small, neat hand, as plain as print, elegant without flourish, except a very complicated one on the signature. On the whole, the specimen is sufficiently characteristic, as well of the Baron's soldier-like and German simplicity, as of the polish of the Great Frederick's aide-de-camp, a man of courts and of the world. ”

“ Baron Steuben, who will be the bearer of this, waits on Congress to have his office [2] arranged upon some decisive and permanent footing. It will not be amiss to be on your guard. The Baron is a gentleman for whom I have a particular esteem; and whose zeal, intelligence, and success, the consequence of both, entitle him to the greatest credit. But I am apprehensive, with all his good qualities, a fondness for power and importance, natural to every man, may lead him to wish for more extensive prerogatives in his department than it will be for the good of the service to grant. ”

“ In all the situations wherein he was placed he rose above the common level, and that he rose no higher must be attributed to the force of circumstances rather than to any want on his part of the power to rise. ”

“ Professor Steffens and hundreds of his hearers left the lecture-room, exchanged the university gown for the uniform, and from that day were the pith and marrow of the black band of Lutzow. It is matter of history how Henry Steffens, at the head of his wild Jägers, greatly distinguished himself in the field, won the Iron Cross, and by his animated eloquence and noble example, drew thousands of brave defenders around the standard of German independence. Thirty-two years later, at Berlin, Baron von Rahden followed his mortal remains to their last resting-place. ”

“ She was the daughter of William Steuben North, and the granddaughter of Gen. William North, who served in the Revolutionary army as aide to Baron Steuben. After receiving her education in Schenectady, she married the Rev. ”

“ I was engaged this morning getting documents and papers respecting the bill for the granting the Baron Steuben seven thousand dollars and an annuity of two thousand dollars. I really never saw so villainous an attempt to rob the public as the system which has been brought forward by the Secretary of the Treasury. The baron's whole accounts have been settled on a liberal scale indeed. An office was created, in addition to his rank as a major-general, for which he had additional pay and emoluments. Seven thousand dollars over and above were granted to him. ”

“ In marching to the front, the men must be accustomed to dress to the center, which they will have to do when exercising in the battalion; and for this purpose a sergeant must be placed six paces in front of the center, who will take some object in front to serve as a direction for him to march straight forward; and the men must look inwards, and regulate their march by him. The captain must exercise his company in different sorts of ground ”

“ The commanding officer of each battalion will inspect the sick before they are sent from the battalion, in order that none may be sent but those who are really incapable of marching with their regiments. And the officers commanding the escort will be answerable that no soldiers are permitted to march with the baggage on any pretense whatever, except the quartermaster sergeant of each regiment, as before directed. ”

“ To take hold at the essential point and postpone action on the relatively unimportant, to respect a worthy pride and natural dignity in other men, and finally, to demonstrate that there is a better way in order to win men's loyalty and to use loyalty as the portal to more constructive collective thought—all of these morals shine in this one object lesson. The most revealing light upon the character of Steuben comes of the episode in which he had one Lieutenant Gibbons arrested for an offense, which he later learned another had committed. ”

“ Each regiment will furnish a non-commissioned officer to conduct the sick and lame who are not able to march with their regiments. These men are to repair, at the beating of the general, to the rendezvous appointed, where a sufficient number of empty wagons will be ordered to attend for the reception of their knapsacks, and their arms if necessary. A surgeon of each brigade is to attend the sick belonging to it. ”

“ Baron Steuben, well schooled in the iron régime of Frederick the Great, came over from Prussia, joined Washington at Valley Forge, and day after day drilled and manœuvered the men, laughing and cursing as he turned raw countrymen into regular soldiers. From France came young Lafayette and the stern De Kalb, from Poland came Pulaski and Kosciusko;—all acquainted with the arts of war as waged in Europe and fitted for leadership as well as teaching. ”

“ Whenever a regiment is to remain more than one night on the same ground, the soldiers must be obliged to cut a small trench round their tents, to carry off the rain; but great care must be taken they do not throw the dirt up against the tents.
One officer of a company must every day visit the tents ”

“ Alas! what is man, that the great Baron Steuben should be suffered to lie in such a place, and without a decent monument!"
** Very little remains on record of the military life of General North during the Revolution, except the fact that he was Steuben's aid. When, in 1798, John Sloss Hobart resigned his seat in the Senate of The United States, Governor Jay appointed General North to succeed him. He was then a resident of Duanesburgh, New York, was a conspicuous Federalist, and had been twice speaker of the New York Assembly. ”

“ Steuben died in the night of November 25, 1794, on his farm, highly respected throughout the State and reverenced by the distinguished men of his time as well as by the German population, having served as president of the German Society of New York. When in 1824 Lafayette visited the United States the inhabitants of Oneida County collected money for erecting a monument over Steuben’s grave. ”

“ A company is to be formed in two ranks, at one pace distance, with the tallest men in the rear, and both ranks sized, with the shortest men of each in the center. A company thus drawn up is to be divided into two sections or platoons; the captain to take post on the right of the first platoon, covered by a sergeant; the lieutenant on the right of the second platoon, also covered by a sergeant; the ensign four paces behind the center of the company; the first sergeant two paces behind the centre of the first platoon, and the eldest corporal two paces behind the second platoon ”

“ The drummer of the police must attend constantly at the adjutant’s tent, to be ready at all times to communicate the necessary signals; nor must he be absent himself on any account during the twenty four hours, without leaving another drummer to supply his place till his return, nor then, without leave from the adjutant. ”

“ He leaves me to bear all, and in the hour of trial he stabs me from behind. There is nothing in him, not respect, not love, not courage—his wife, his dignity, his throne, the honour of his father, he forgets them all!’
‘Yes,’ pursued the Baron, ‘the word Abdication. I perceive a glimmering there.’
‘I read your fancy,’ she returned. ‘It is mere madness, midsummer madness. Baron, I am more unpopular than he. You know it. They can excuse, they can love, his weakness ”

“ Steuben. She seemed to signify that she was ready to move on. “Wasn’t your great-grandfather in the Revolution?” the elder lady asked. “I’m telling Count Vogelstein about him.”
“Why are you asking about my ancestors?” the girl demanded of the young German with untempered brightness. “Is that the thing you said just now that you can’t find out? Well, if Mrs. Steuben will only be quiet you never will.”
Mrs. Steuben shook her head rather dreamily. “Well, it’s no trouble for we of the Sooth to be quiet. There’s a kind of languor in our blood. Besides, we have to be to-day. ”

“ I have written to Bro Gerry by the Baron De Steuben whom I strongly recommend to the Notice of my worthy Colleagues & others. Mr Gerry will shew you my Letter, which makes it needless for me to add further than that from the recommendatory Letters of Dr Franklin & other papers wch I have seen & the Conversation I have had with the Baron, I really esteem him a modest candid & sensible Gentn. The Dr says he is spoken highly of to him by two of the best Judges of military merit in France, tho he is not him self a Frenchman but a Prussian. ”

“ The arms and accoutrements of the officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers, should be uniform throughout. The officers who exercise their functions on horseback, are to be armed with swords, the platoon officers with swords and espontoons, the non-commissioned officers with swords, firelocks, and bayonets, and soldiers with firelocks and bayonets. ”

“ A captain cannot be too careful of the company the state has committed to his charge. He must pay the greatest attention to the health of his men, their discipline, arms, accoutrements, ammunition, clothes and necessaries. ”

“ Steuben, the iron drill-master and German soldier of fortune, converses with Mrs. Washington. He had reduced the simple marksmen of Bunker Hill to the discipline of the armies of Europe and tested their efficiency in the din of battle. He has leisure now, and scarcely knows how to find employment for his active mind. He is telling his hostess, in broken German-English, of the whale (it proved to be an eel) he had caught in the river. Hear his hostess laugh! And that is the voice of Lafayette, relating perhaps his adventures in escaping from France, or his mishap in attempting to attend Mrs. ”

“ But as the loveliest countries have their barren spots, the beautifulest forms their imperfections, pictures by the greatest masters their faults, We are willing to cover with the veil of oblivion those of the said Baron; do hereby grant him, with regret, the Congee he requires;—and abolish his Office altogether, to blot it from men's memory, not judging that anybody after the said Baron can be worthy to fill it. ”

“ We are ready to believe that grief at the loss of your son has disturbed your mind, and that you are not responsible for what you say. But take care of yourself. You are now the only person menaced, for you have rendered yourself liable to a warrant issued against you for perjury; and, by Heaven, if we have another word on this matter of poor Stewponey, we will deal with you in such manner as you will not relish."
Turning aside, he muttered: "She is a malignant, wicked old cat!" Then to some of the men who stood by he said, curtly, "Remove the corpse." ”

“ And after all, Stedman never ventures to assert that the imitation equalled the original, or that the Maroons had inflicted nearly so much as they had suffered.
The leaders of the rebels, especially, were men who had each his own story of wrongs to tell. Baron, the most formidable, had been the slave of a Swedish gentleman, who had taught him to read and write, taken him to Europe, promised to manumit him on his return,—and then, breaking his word, sold him to a Jew. ”