HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



11 



should be acknowledged by the commander-in-chief, and the 

 war should have a prosperous issue, he hoped that Congress 

 would restore the money he had advanced, would render 

 him an equivalent for the offices he had resigned, and give 

 him such further compensation as they might deem he had 

 deserved. In the mean time he expected that the officers 

 of his suite should receive employment suitable to their ex- 

 perience and rank These modest and reasonable proposi- 

 tions were immediately accepted by Congress, with a vote 

 of thanks to Steuben for his patriotic offer, and an order for 

 him to join the .army at once, which was then in winter 

 quarters at Valley Forge. His reputation had preceded 

 him, and all ranks w^ere eager to see and greet the distin- 

 guished foreigner, who had come to devote his military skill 

 to the cause of American freedom. 



BARON STEUBEN IN THE AMERICAN ARMY. 



The condition of the Continental troops during the 

 gloomy winter at Yalley Forge is too well known to need 

 description. It was wretched in the extreme. Reduced 

 to a mere handful in point of numbers, half-clothed, and 

 ill-sheltered from the inclemency of the weather, they owed 

 their preservation to the supineness or ignorance of the 

 enemy. The baron frequently declared that no European 

 army could be kept together under such dreadful privations. 

 Discipline was relaxed, and the performance of military du- 

 ties frequently postponed, from the necessity of employing 

 the soldiers in excursions to procure daily subsistence, or of 

 keeping them housed because they were too poorly clad to 

 endure the open air. As he passed through the canton- 

 ment, says his aide-de-camp, the baron was obliged to see 

 through the half-closed doors of the huts the wretched fig- 

 ures of the soldiers, with only a blanket thrown over them, 

 and to hear, at every turn, their complaints for the want of 

 pay, clothes, and provisions. 



The want of economy and order in the army at that time 

 was fearful, and needed just such a regulating hand as 

 Baron Steuben's. Richard Peters, who then belonged to 

 the war department, affirmed that it was customary in the 

 estimates of that office to allow five thousand muskets be- 

 yond the actual number of the muster of the whole army. 

 Yet this allowance was never sufficient to guard against the 

 waste and misapplication that occurred. We have the 

 same authority for the assertion that, in the last inspection 

 return of the army, before he left the war department. 

 Baron Steuben being then inspector-general, only three 

 muskets were deficient, and those were accounted for. 



When the spring opened partial supplies were received, 

 and the new levies arrived in considerable numbers. To 

 bring order out of the general confusion, to reduce the raw 

 recruits to a homogeneous mass with the old troops, to ac- 

 custom the whole to the utmost precision of movement and 

 management of arms, and to yield punctilious obedience 

 to orders, was the hard task assigned to Baron Steuben. 

 He was obliged to instruct equally the officers and men — 

 the former to lead and the latter to follow — in intricate evo- 

 lutions, with which all were alike unacquainted. His diffi- 

 culties were increased by his ignorance of the English lan- 

 guage. His secretary, Du Ponceau, who might have aided 

 him in this point, was sick and absent from the army. At 



the first parade, the troops, neither understanding the com- 

 mand nor being able to follow in movements to which they 

 had not been accustomed, were getting fast into confusion. 

 At that moment Captain Walker, then of the 4th New 

 York Regiment, advanced from the line and offered his as- 

 sistance to translate the orders and give them out to the 

 troops. " If I had seen an angel from heaven," said the 

 baron, many years after, '• I should not have been more re- 

 joiced. Perhaps there was not another officer in the army 

 (unless Hamilton be excepted) who could speak French 

 and English so as to be well understood in both." Walker 

 became his aide de-camp, and in future was hardly ever 

 from his side. Still, as the baron slowly acquired our lan- 

 guage, his eagerness and warmth of temper would fre- 

 quently involve him in difficulties. On such occasions, 

 after exhaustins: all the execrations he could think of ii> 

 German and French, he would call upon his faithful aide for 

 assistance. " Yenez, Walker, mon ami ! Sacre, de gauche- 

 rie of des badauts, je ne puis plus. I can curse dem no 

 more !" 



A temporary department of inspection was organized, 

 and the baron placed at its head. He was efficient and in- 

 defatigable in the discharge of his duties, and under his 

 training the raw and heterogeneous mass of recruits and 

 veterans soon began to assume the solidity and discipline of 

 an army. Every fair day, when the troops were to manoeu- 

 vre, the baron rose at three o'clock in the morning, and 

 while the servant dressed his hair he smoked and drank 

 one cup of strong coffee. At sunrise he was on his horse, 

 and, w^ith or without suite, galloped to the parade-ground. 

 There was no waiting for a tardy aide, and one who canu 

 late was sufficiently punished by a reproachful look for the 

 neglect of duty. 



Dr. Thacher, in his " Military Journal," describes a scene 

 on the parade-ground, showing how the baron attended to 

 the minutest details : '' The troops were paraded in a single 

 line, with shouldered arms, every officer in his particular 

 station. The baron first reviewed the line in this position, 

 passing in front with a scrutinizing eye ; after which he 

 took into his hand the musket and accoutrements of every 

 soldier, examining them with particular accuracy, applauding 

 or condemning according as he found them. He required 

 that the musket and bayonet should exhibit the brightest 

 polish ; not a spot of rust or defect in any part could elude 

 his vigilance. He inquired also into the conduct of the 

 officers towards their men, censuring every fault, and ap- 

 plauding every meritorious action. Next he required of me, 

 as surgeon, a list of the sick, with a particular statement of 

 their accommodations, mode of treatment, and even visited 

 some of the sick in their cabins."''' 



The value of Steuben's services was soon apparent. On 

 the 30th of April, 1778, Washington wrote to Congress, 

 " I should do injustice if I were to be longer silent with 

 regard to the merits of Baron Steuben. His knowledge of 

 his profession, added to the zeal which he has discovered 

 since he began upon the functions of his office, leads me to 

 consider him as an acquisition to the service, and to recom- 

 mend him to the attention of Congress." Conu^ress, on the 



-•• Thacher's Military Journal, second edition, p. 160. 



