What was Baron Von Steuben's life like before he war began?

Answer 1

Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben was the son of a lieutenant of engineers, born in Magedeburg in 1730. His family accompanied the father to Russia when his king ordered him into the service of the Czarina. The family returned to Prussia in 1740 when Frederick the Great became king.

Steuben attended a Jesuit school in Breslau and, by the age of 17, was an officer in the Prussian military. During the Seven Years War he was a member of an infantry unit but served primarily as a staff officer. By 1761 he had risen to the rank of captain and was serving in the Prussian general headquarters. The army was greatly reduced in size at the end of the war, and Steuben was one of many Prussian officers suddenly without work. His experience on a professional general staff - a military innovation of Frederick the Great and unknown outside of Prussia, would prove to be valuable in his American career.

In 1764 Steuben became chamberlain at the court of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. In 1769, he started using the title of baron, based on a falsified lineage prepared by his father. In 1776, Steuben's career at Hohenzollern-Hechingen ended in scandal - he was alleged to be a homosexual and was accused of improper sexual behavior with young boys. He never married and had no children. Upon his death in 1794 he left his estate to General Benjamin Walker and Captain William North, who had served as his aides-de-camp during the war, with whom he had had an "extraordinarily intense emotional relationship".

Steuben traveled to Paris in the summer of 1777. He had formerly been introduced to the French Minister of War, the Comte de Saint-Germain. The Count, realizing the potential of an officer with Prussian general staff training, introduced him to Benjamin Franklin. Upon the Count's recommendation, Steuben was given a letter of introduction to George Washington from Franklin as a "Lieutenant General in the King of Prussia's service," a gross exaggeration of his actual credentials. He was advanced travel funds and left Europe from Marseilles.

Steuben was one of a number of Europeans who made their way to America when the Revolution began and presented themselves as candidates to be officers of high rank, with often inflated claims as to their previous military exploits and abilities. Steuben was one of the few of these who rendered actual valuable service.