Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben: Revolutionary Hero - Page 2
© Colleen Thomas Ryor
He wrote a manual for the military training of soldiers called Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States. Part of its successful implementation was because of his insistence that officers and soldiers be more closely associated. Traditionally officers had kept their distance from the soldiers because they felt that this would earn their respect. Von Steuben realized that the soldiers would learn to respect the officers more if they themselves were shown more respect. Officers became responsible for training the soldiers, and they also had to march and eat with them. These methods proved worthwhile: the soldiers began to have great admiration for their officers, rather than the resentment that they had often felt before.
Before the Baron arrived in America there were no set drills or patterns for doing things. Military maneuvers were handled differently from battallion to battallion. Von Steuben standardized these, so that the men began to have a certain professionalism. He introduced a discipline that they had not known before. Soldiers soon began to feel great pride in their service to the American cause.
Baron von Steuben's success in training the American soldiers of the revolution came about through his dedication to providing them with more adequate supplies as well. At one point he spent the whole of his personal income on his troops so that they may have clothing and better rations. He also introduced more sanitary conditions to the training grounds: food quarters and latrines were on opposite corners of the camps. Earlier there had been no such separation. The soldiers also loved his engaging personality, even though they couldn't understand him. He had a sense of humor and his willingness to have officers treat the soldiers with more respect and less distance won them over as well.
Von Steuben transformed this modest army into one that would eventually defeat the world's greatest military power of the day. The fruits of his efforts were realized later with victorious battles at Barren Hill and Monmouth. George Washington nominated him as Inspector General, and Congress later approved this nomination.
Baron von Steuben became an American citizen in 1784 and lived the rest of his life in upstate New York. He has been called "indispensable" to the cause of American liberty, second only to Washington in importance of individual military contribution. He is buried not far from Utica, New York, in a gravesite that bears this inscription: "Indispensable to the Cause of American Independence." Indeed, mein Herr.
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