Steuben, FREDERIC WILLIAM AUGUSTUS, BARON

Steuben, FREDERIC WILLIAM AUGUSTUS, BARON, a general of the American revolutionary army, was born at Magdeburg, November 15, 1730, and at fourteen served as a volunteer under his father at the siege of Prague. By 1754 he had risen to the rank of adjutant-general, and in 1762 he was attached to the staff of Frederick the Great. While on a visit to Paris in 1777 he was induced by Count St Germain to go to America. He arrived at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in February 1778, and offered his services to congress and to General Washington, by whom they were joyfully accepted; and he joined the army, then in the most deplorable condition, at Valley Forge. He was appointed inspector-general, prepared a manual of tactics for the army, remodelled its organisation, and improved its discipline. He sat on the court-martial on Major André. In 1780 he received a command in Virginia, and he took part, as major-general, in the siege of Yorktown. As generous in character as he was capable as an officer, he spent his whole fortune in clothing his men, and gave his last dollar to his soldiers. Congress made tardy reparation, and in 1790 voted him an annuity of 2400 dollars, and a township of land near Utica, New York. There he died in his log-cottage, November 28, 1794. See Sparks's American Biography, and a Life by Friedrich Kapp (New York, 1860).