Are you familiar with the name Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Agustin von Steuben?
Baron von Steuben
Aside from George Washington himself, perhaps the most remarkable character in the story of Valley Forge is the Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Agustin von Steuben.
In American history, von Steuben has gone down as a great Prussian general who arrived in America to train its armies. The fact is he was a conman and a spy for the French government. But yes, he played a tremendous role in America winning his independence.
Today, our Cincinnati Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution – Color Guard (the Nolan Carson Memorial Color Guard to be exact) uses a manual of marching and drills attributed to Baron von Steuben. Regardless of his past, at the end of the day, the man made an impact, a legacy and we remember him.
Below you will learn a little more about the man and his path to becoming a driving force behind turning the raw, inexperienced and very green Continental army into a fighting force to challenge the worlds most powerful army.
Troops being trained at Valley Forge by von Steuben
Interesting short read article from “The History Reader” ….. enjoy!
If you are thirsty for more, here is more information about von Steuben from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Wilhelm_von_Steuben
Even our greatest heroes have pasts which history guided them to their greatest purpose! For that we are grateful for von Steuben’s contributions to our founding fathers and their vision for a new America.
