#Friedrich von Steuben

[livelaughlovelams]

"Give me more trashy Von Steuben sketches!!!" - No one ever

(uhhh in case you can't tell I FATALLY messed up the mouth and just gave up. Also, I SWEAR TO GOD IT LOOKS OKAY IN PERSON BUT MY HANDS ARE WAY TOO SHAKY. DW I know you all wanted MOAR crusty deleterious art anygays.)

ANygaySSSS, TAGS!!!

[nothingfrompoland]

ngl, baron von Steuben cooked with this one

[marsfingershurt]

"Steuben grew impatient and flew into a violent passion. After exhausting all his store of German oaths he called in that language to his servant to bring his pistols, which he did. Then the Baron, presenting the deadly weapons at the affrighted land-lord...."

ERM. STEUBEN?? NO???

i love Du Ponceau's autobiography lmao

[yr-obedt-cicero]

New York State Society of the Cincinnati, on the death of Alexander Hamilton

At a special meeting of the the State Society of the Cincinnati, held at Ross's Hotel in Broad-street, in the City of New-York, on Tuesday, the 17th day of July, 1804: This Society, deeply afflicted by the death of their President-General, ALEXANDER HAMILTON, and earnestly desirous of testifying the high respect they feel for his memory (bowing with submission to the mysterious Will of Heaven) and feeling the deepest affliction at an event which has deprived them of their most illustrious Member—their Country of its most enlightened and useful Statesman—and the world of one of those extraordinary Men, which ages have rarely produced; unanimously agree to the following Resolutions: I. Resolved, That a letter be drafted and addressed to the Vice-President-General of the Society, and Circular Letters to the several State Societies, announcing this sad event, the deep and universal sorrow it has occasioned in this Society, and amongst their fellow-citizens of every description; and that the Rev. Mr. Linn, General Clarkson, Mr. Dunscomb, Mr. Hardie, and Col. Platt, be a Committee to draft such letters. II. Resolved, That the said Committee draft a letter of condolence to Mrs. Hamilton, which letter and letters, when prepared, are to be signed by the President and countersigned by the Secretary of the Society. III. Resolved, That Gen. Clarkson, Mess'rs Watson and Burrel, be a Committee to wait on the Rev. Mr. Mason, and request him to prepare and deliver an Oration on the 31st instant, in honour of the Talents, the Virtues, and eminent Services of that Great Man whose loss we deplore; and that the said Committee make such arrangements as may be proper on the occasion. IV. Resolved, That a Monument be erected in Trinity Church, by this Society, to the memory of Alexander Hamilton, its late President-General, with a suitable Inscription; and that Mr. Gouverneur Morris, the Rev. Dr. Linn, and Mr. Morton, be a Committee to carry this resolution into effect. V. Resolved, That the thanks of this Society be presented to Mr. Gouverneur Morris, for his prompt compliance with their wishes, in delivering an Eulogium at the Funeral Ceremonies of their deceased President-General, Alexander Hamilton. VI. Resolved, That the several Resolutions passed at this meeting, be transmitted to the Vice-President-General of the Society, and to the respective State Societies, and be also published. W. S. SMITH, President.

W. POPHAM, Secretary.

Source — Library of Congress, Digital Collections, manuscript/mixed material. Image 8 of Alexander Hamilton Papers: Family Papers, 1737-1917; 1804-1805

The New York State Society of Cincinnati - also known as The Society of the Cincinnati - is a fraternal hereditary society founded on June 9, 1783, to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. In order to perpetuate their fellowship, the founders made membership hereditary. [x] The Society has had three goals; “To preserve the rights so dearly won; to promote the continuing union of the states; and to assist members in need, their widows, and their orphans.” To achieve these aims, the Society called on its members to contribute a month's pay. George Washington was the first president general of the Society. The army's chief of artillery, Henry Knox, was the chief author of the Institution.

The organization was named after, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, a farmer who left his farm to serve as a Roman Consul and Magister Populi (With temporary powers similar to that of a modern-era dictator). In response to a military emergency, he took over the city of Rome as a legitimate dictator. After the conflict, he gave the Senate back the initiative and resumed cultivating his fields. This philosophy of unselfish service is reflected in the Society's motto; He gave up everything to keep the Republic alive, or Omnia reliquit servare rempublicam.

The Society of the Cincinnati was founded by officers at the Continental Army encampment at Newburgh, like Major General Henry Knox. The first meeting of the Society was held in the May of 1783 at a dinner at the Verplanck House Fishkill, New York, (Which was Baron Von Steuben's headquarters during the Revolution) before the British evacuation from New York City. The meeting was presided over by Major General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, with Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton serving as the orator. The participants agreed to stay in contact with each other after the war. Mount Gulian is considered the birthplace of the Society of the Cincinnati, where the Institution was formally adopted on May 13, 1783. To this day the members of the organization meet annually at the Verplanck homestead. It is modernly known as The Mount Gulian historic site and looks very much as it did in 1783. There you will find the Cincinnati Gallery, dedicated to the New York State Society, with displays, artifacts, and documents illustrating the founding and activities of the Society during its continuous existence since 1783. Read more here.

While the NYSSOTC did erect the famous white monument on top of the grave of Hamilton, [x] in 1957 they erected another monument in Financial District in Manhattan in New York County engraved with; “To the Memory of Alexander Hamilton 1757 - 1804. Lieutenant Colonel, Aide de Camp to Gen. Washington And Those Other Officers of the Continental Army & Navy Original Members of the Society Whose Remains are Interred in the Churchyards of Trinity Parish” [x]

[theworstfoundingfathers]

Who is the worst? Round 1: Benjamin Tallmadge vs Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben

Benjamin Tallmadge (February 25, 1754 – March 7, 1835) was an American military officer, spymaster, and politician. He is best known for his service as an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He acted as leader of the Culper Ring during the war, a celebrated network of spies in New York where major British forces were based. He also led a successful raid across Long Island that culminated in the Battle of Fort St. George. After the war, Tallmadge was elected to the US House of Representatives as a member of the Federalist Party.

In 1792, Tallmadge was appointed postmaster of Litchfield, Connecticut. He served until he resigned to assume his seat in Congress. He established a successful mercantile and importing business and was the first president of the Phoenix Branch Bank, a position he held from 1814 to 1826.

Over the course of his career, Tallmadge owned and hired a number of slaves, though he became an abolitionist after conversion to Congregationalism.

Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben (born Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin Louis von Steuben; September 17, 1730 – November 28, 1794), also referred to as Baron von Steuben was a Prussian military officer who played a leading role in the American Revolutionary War by reforming the Continental Army into a disciplined and professional fighting force. His contributions marked a significant improvement in the performance of U.S. troops, and he is subsequently regarded as one of the fathers of the United States Army.

Upon the Count's recommendation, Steuben was introduced to future president George Washington by means of a letter from Franklin as a "Lieutenant General in the King of Prussia's service", an exaggeration of his actual credentials that appears to be based on a mistranslation of his service record. He was advanced travel funds and left Europe from Marseilles on Friday, September 26, 1777, on board the frigate Flamand.

[silliestcolressfan]

Until its him

[pub-lius]

Why don't you have any detailed posts about Steuben smh do better

AW FUCK NO MY REPUTATION!! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE THE GAY HISTORY PERSON IF I DONT HAVE A DETAILED POST ABOUT STEUBEN!!!! i have to fix this...

Early Life

Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand Baron de Steuben was born on September 17, 1730 in Prussia. He joined the Prussian army at the age of 17, so he got a real early start.

Note: I've written his name here as "Baron de Steuben", as this name is from a French record, however he is typically referred to as "Baron von Steuben", as "von" is the translation of "de" from French to Prussian, and they both mean "of" in English. I just wanted to clarify that for the sake of my own linguistically correct sanity

Steuben began his service in the French and Indian War (or Seven Years War if you're a dirty European) as a second lieutenant, and was then wounded at the Battle of Prague, a Prussian victory. Then, he joined General Johann von Mayer's adjutant and principle staff officer in a special detached corps.

Then, he was promoted to first lieutenant and wounded AGAIN at the Battle of Kunersdorf, which was a Russian and Austrian victory. He was then transferred to general headquarters as a staff officer in the position of deputy quartermaster (this is important!!).

He was taken prisoner when Major General von Knoblock surrendered at Treptow, and was released after a year in 1762. He was promoted to captain and then became an aide-de-camp to Frederick the Great, which is as metal as it gets. He joined the King's class on the art of war, where he learned even more super cool military leadership skills.

Life Between Wars

Steuben met St. Germain in Hamburg (a notoriously great place to meet people). If you aren't in the know like I clearly am, St. Germain would eventually be the French Minister of War during the American Revolution. They'd meet again in France when Steuben was serving as Grand Marshall to the Prince of Hollenzollern-Hechingen, and if that sounds made up to you, it's because you don't even know him like I do.

Steuben continued looking for military work, but those European assholes (the British, French, and Austrians) rejected my man for no good reason (probably because he was gay or something). It was during his stay in France where he heard of the rowdy Americans across the pond.

St. Germain introduced Baron von Steuben to Silas fucking Deane and Benjamin "Slim Shady" Franklin, but they weren't able to promise Steuben anything but some regurgitated American propaganda, since, by this time, they were already getting yelled at by Congress and Washington for allowing too many incompetent Frenchmen into the Continental Army. They told him that the only way he could assist in the American fight for independence would be to go to America and present himself as a volunteer to Congress (like Lafayette ended up having to do).

This obviously pissed off Steuben since he was actually experienced trying to get a job, because its not fun being an overqualified, unemployed gay man in 18th century Europe. But still, he settled for being a volunteer, and set out for America, his passage being paid for by the French government.

WHAT THE FUCK IS A KILOMETERRRRRRR

Steuben traveled to America with his Italian greyhound, Azor, and his two assistants, Louis de Pontiere (ADC) and Pierre Ettienne Duponceau (military secretary). They arrived in New Hampshire on December 1, 1777. They were almost arrested upon arrival because Steuben had a blond moment and mistakenly dressed them in red uniforms instead of blue. They traveled through Boston to York, Pennyslvania, arriving on February 5, 1778.

In Steuben's letter of recommendation, Franklin mistranslated Steuben's rank to "His Excellency, Lieutenant General von Steuben, Apostle of Frederick the Great", which made him seem way more distinguished than he was. As a result, he was presented a much higher rank by Congress.

Steuben was ordered to report to Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge, where he arrived on February 23, 1778, and was described by a soldier as "a perfect personification of Mars."

Steuben's good first impression also had an effect on Washington, who appointed him temporary Inspector General, and it was in this position that he had his largest impact on American history, and changed the course of the war

Why Every Army Should Have Gay People, An Essay by Publius

Baron von Steuben began his transformation of the Continental Army by writing training drills, overriding the regional trainings of the state militias into a unified and universal regimen. There was a significant language barrier, however, as Steuben originally wrote the drills in French, which were then translated into English by Duponceau, John Laurens, and Alexander Hamilton. Then, they were given to the brigade inspectors, who made the copies which were then copied to be delivered to each officer. There was definitely a more efficient way to do this, but you know. It was also Valley Forge.

General Washington's Life Guard and some men from each state (totalling around 120 men) were used as a model to show the rest of the army how they were supposed to go through the drills. As they trained and demonstrated the drills, Steuben was writing new ones, only a few days ahead, which is a massive time crunch. This was done intentionally to make the drills as simple as he could, so the training of the army was dispersed in a rapid, orderly fashion. This man was a genius, I can't emphasize it enough.

The officers in the British army, which was the standard for Americans in many respects, would allow the sergeants to drill the men, but Steuben said fuck that, I'm gonna do it myself. This made many American officers uncomfortable because the men developed a bond with him because of how talented he was (and the fact that he was funny and used profanity in multiple languages), and along with the fact that Steuben's office seemingly had no limitations, this caused them to complain to the big boss, Washington. To make them feel better, Washington issued orders on June 15, 1778 to govern the Inspector General's office until further word from Congress.

The reformed Continental Army showed off their swag on May 6, 1778 when they celebrated the news of the Franco-American Alliance, which impressed soldiers, officers, and civilians. More happy news came when Steuben was given his commission from the Congress as Inspector General, with the rank of Major General.

It was at the Battle of Monmouth when the new training of the Continental Army was able to take what would have been a losing battle for the Americans to a technical draw. Steuben was actually almost killed/taken prisoner (depending on the mood of the British) during this battle because he was wearing so many metals of honor that he glimmered in the sunlight, and was spotted by the British. He was fine, though.

General von Steuben went to Philadelphia in the winter of 1778-79 to write his book of regulations, referred to as The Blue Book. Lieutenant Colonel Francois de Fleury, a volunteer, assisted in writing it. It was with the assistance of ~Benjamin Walker~ and Duponceau that the blue book was translated into English, which is why we know Walker as being important! And the fact that he and Steuben totally boned! Anyway, Captain Pierre Charles L'Enfant was illustrated it, and the book was used all the way until 1814.

After the war

General von Steuben rejoined the Continental Army in April of 1779 to serve through the end of the war. He was an instructor and supply officer for General Nathanael Greene's southern army from the beginning of the southern campaign until Yorktown. Steuben commanded one of three divisions in the Continentals at Yorktown. He assisted in demobilizing the army in 1783, and resigned his commission in 1784, which is actually the latest I've heard of a Continental General resigning his commission!

Steuben continuously petitioned Congress for financial compensation for mesothelioma (not really) and fuck ass Congress only gave him a part of what he was owed, which was pretty typical. But! New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all gave him land grants, which he sold portions off to have enough money to live. So, he retired from NYC to his land holdings to live the remainder of his life.

Oh, and fun fact, Steuben was present at one of the riots in New York that Alexander Hamilton tried to stop, and they both had bricks thrown at them. It might have been the Cadaver Riots, but I could be wrong since I didn't feel like double checking.

Steuben never married, and instead lived with Benjamin Walker for a long period of time. He died on his 16,000 acre farm tract in the Mohawk Valley of New York on November 28, 1794.

Homosexuality

The source I used for this does not mention his homosexuality at all, but I'm going to, because the last thing you'll ever see me do is pretend like gay people didn't exist or are "unprofessional" to talk about in history.

If you say that Alexander Hamilton was gay, you have to say Steuben was, and vice versa. Rumors of homosexuality followed Steuben from Europe all the way to America, and play a large role in why he relocated many times, and never seemed to have a permanent home until the end of his life. This was a form of unofficial exile that many queer people faced in times where their existence was illegal. As soon as your name was associated with possible homosexuality, you couldn't get comfortable anywhere.

But von Steuben wasn't brought down by this, and you've gotta respect that. He threw elaborate parties starting almost as soon as he arrived at the Continental Army. If you're new to the amrev community here, this is what we mean by "flaming shot/pantless parties", because they had shots of liquor that they would light on fire, and in order to get in, at least part of your breeches had to have been missing. While straight men did attend these parties, the subtext in discussions about them seem to imply that they were also a gathering place for queer men.

These parties continued, and some familiar faces were there, such as Duponceau, Walker Hamilton, Laurens, and, later on, Charles Adams. However, I'm not going to speculate on who was fucking who, though it has been largely accepted by historians that General von Steuben and Benjamin Walker were lovers, and I personally think there is substantial evidence to support this when you align their personal correspondence with the close proximity they maintained throughout their lives.

General von Steuben is a figure that is very important to many queer people as a conspicuous queer man in history who had an undeniable impact on the course of American history. Portrayals of Steuben in media typically disregard this, however more and more biographers are discussing his homosexuality and the significance it plays in queer history. So, I'll end this post by saying this: Steuben is just as significant in American history as he is in Queer history, and it is irresponsible to pretend like he isn't.

Source:

National Park Service- Valley Forge

British Battles.com- Battle of Kunersdorf

George Washington's Indispensable Men by Arthur S. Lefkowitz

John Laurens and the American Revolution by Gregory D. Massey

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Anyway, thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about Steuben lol. I didn't previously know much about his life before the American Revolution, so I was very happy to learn. I actually bought a biography about him not long ago, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army by Paul Lockhart, but I haven't read it yet. If anyone has, pls let me know if it's good or not. After Massey and Chernow, I'm practically on my hands and knees begging for a male author to treat queer history seriously. Anyway, thank you for the ask! I'm going to go watch the george washington mini series for steuben content

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Nick Anderson

* * * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

January 6, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JAN 7, 2024

Today, three years to the day after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol to prevent the counting of the electoral ballots that would make Democrat Joe Biden president, officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested three fugitives wanted in connection with that attack. 

Siblings Jonathan and Olivia Pollock, whose family owns Rapture Guns and Knives, described on its Facebook page as a “christian owned Gun and Knife store” in Lakeland, Florida, and Joseph Hutchinson III, who once worked there, are suspected of some of the worst violence of January 6. The FBI had offered a $30,000 reward for “Jonny” Pollock, while the other two had been arrested but removed their ankle bracelets in March 2023 and fled. 

Family members of the fugitives and of other Lakeland residents arrested for their involvement in the January 6 attack on the Capitol insist their relatives are innocent, framed by a government eager to undermine their way of life. The Pollock family has gone so far as to erect a monument “in honor of the ones who lost their lives on January 6, 2021.” 

But it does not honor the law enforcement officers who were killed or injured. It honors the insurrectionists: Ashli Babbitt, shot by a law enforcement officer as she tried to break into the House Chamber through a smashed window (her family today sued the government for $30 million for wrongful death), and three others, one who died of a stroke; one of a heart attack, and one of an amphetamine overdose. 

The monument in Lakeland, Florida, is a stark contrast to the one President Biden visited yesterday in Pennsylvania. Valley Forge National Park is the site of the six-month winter encampment of the Continental Army in the hard winter of 1777–1778. After the British army captured the city of Philadelphia in September 1777, General George Washington settled 12,000 people of his army about 18 miles to the northwest. 

There the army almost fell apart. Supply chains were broken as the British captured food or it spoiled in transit to the soldiers, and wartime inflation meant the Continental Congress did not appropriate enough money for food and clothing. Hunger and disease stalked the camp, but even worse was the lack of clothing. More than 1,000 soldiers died, and about eight or ten deserted every day. Washington warned the president of the Continental Congress that the men were close to mutiny. 

Even if they didn’t quit, they weren’t very well organized for an army charged with resisting one of the greatest military forces on the globe. The different units had been trained with different field manuals, making it hard to coordinate movements, and a group of army officers were working with congressmen to replace Washington, complaining about how he was prosecuting the war.  

By February 1778, though, things were falling into place. A delegation from the Continental Congress had visited Valley Forge and understood that the lack of supplies made the army, and thus the country, truly vulnerable, and they set out to reform the supply department. Then a newly arrived Prussian officer, Baron Friedrich von Steuben, drilled the soldiers into unity and better morale. And then, in May, the soldiers learned that France had signed a treaty with the American states in February, lending money, matériel, and men to the cause of American independence. When the soldiers broke camp in June, they marched out ready to take on the British at the Battle of Monmouth, where their new training paid off as they held their own against the British soldiers.

The January 6 insurrectionists were fond of claiming they were echoing these American revolutionaries who created the new nation in the 1770s. The right-wing Proud Boys’ strategic plan for taking over buildings in the Capitol complex on January 6 was titled: “1776 Returns,” and even more famously, newly elected representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) wrote on January 5, 2021: “Remember these next 48 hours. These are some of the most important days in American history.” On January 6, she wrote: “Today is 1776.”

Trump has repeatedly called those January 6 insurrectionists “patriots.” 

Biden yesterday called Trump out for “trying to steal history the same way he tried to steal the election.”  

Indeed. The insurrectionists at the Capitol were not patriots. They were trying to overthrow the government in order to take away the right at the center of American democracy: our right to determine our own destiny. Commemorating them as heroes is the 21st century’s version of erecting Confederate statues.

The January 6th insurrectionists were nothing like the community at Valley Forge, made up of people who had offered up their lives to support a government pledged, however imperfectly in that era, to expanding that right. When faced with hunger, disease, and discord, that community—which was made up not just of a remarkably diverse set of soldiers from all 13 colonies, including Black and Indigenous men, but also of their families and the workers, enslaved and free, who came with them—worked together to build a force that could establish a nation based in the idea of freedom.  

The people at the Capitol on January 6 who followed in the footsteps of those who were living in the Valley Forge encampment 246 years ago were not the rioters. They were the people who defended our right to live under a government in which we have a say: those like the staffers who delayed their evacuation of the Capitol to save the endangered electoral ballots, and like U.S. Capitol Police officers Eugene Goodman, Harry Dunn, Caroline Edwards, and Aquilino Gonell and Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone, along with the more than 140 officers injured that day. 

Fanone, whom rioters beat and tasered, giving him a traumatic brain injury and a heart attack, yesterday told Emily Ngo, Jeff Coltin, and Nick Reisman of Politico: “I think it’s important that every institution in this country, every American, take the responsibility of upholding democracy seriously. And everyone needs to be doing everything that they can to ensure that a.) Donald Trump does not succeed and b.) the MAGA movement is extinguished.”

Unlike the violence of the January 6th insurrectionists, the experience of the people at Valley Forge is etched deep into our national identity as a symbol of the sacrifice and struggle Americans have made to preserve and renew democracy. It is so central to who we are that we have commemorated it in myths and monuments and have projected into the future that its meaning will always remain at the heart of America. According to The Star Trek Encyclopedia, the Federation Excelsior-class starship USS Valley Forge will still be fighting in the 24th century… against the Dominion empire.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[livelaughlovelams]

(amrev) Book pile got a new addition today AYYY

(thx Hannah :33)

[doueverwonder]

why do i always find this stuff on the national parks website why are they the ones posting about Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben possibly being gay

[sadnessunderthebridge]

Someone show me where the angry white Christian men are, do I have something to tell them.

During the American Revolutionary War, a gay Prussian General called Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben (better known as Baron von Steuben) was asked by George Washington himself to help train Washington's soldiers because they were all unexperience in fighting.

[yr-obedt-cicero]

“The party stopped for a meal at one such inn in the village of Manheim. Nailed to a wall inside the tavern was a “paltry engraving… on which was represented a Prussian knocking down a Frenchman in great style,” accompanied by the inscription “A Frenchman to a Prussian is no more than a mosquito.” Steuben noticed it and “enjoyed it exceedingly”; he grabbed [Peter Stephen] Duponceau and pointed it out excitedly to the teenage secretary, flashing him a sly and knowing smile.”

— The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army, by Paul D. Lockhart

[enchi-elm]

ALSO this bit from george washington, which isn't necessarily as a response to people's qualms abt his character per se, but it's fascinating for so many reasons to me:

i don't necessarily think it means george washington condoned homosexual relationships, but it's notable that he can separate the way people live their lives from their professional abilities, and to additionally not use it as a judgment of their character. i want to know so much more. was it intentional on his part to surround von steubon by ppl who wouldn't judge his character? was it because they were willing to work with /him/ or was it an acknowledgement of their common queerness/sexuality? does it reveal anything about the attitudes people historically had towards queerness? could it be that there was a somewhat open community of people in the seventeen fucking hundreds? does george washington gay ally? (thats a joke, kinda)

but also, it makes me excited for wind/water and any potential interaction between ben and washington, or what that *could* look like.

I've put out some feelers on the ole Turn Discord (which I haven't been active on in ages) as I'm certain someone there was the resident expert on Washington's stance on homosexuality based on his treatment and relationship with, among others, Von Steuben and his aides.

Your quote sounded so familiar I thought you were quoting William Benemann's "Male-Male Intimacy in Early America", but I don't think you are. What Benemann does have to say about it is this [pg. 98]:

Worldly as Franklin may have been, he probably shared the prejudices of most Americans when it came to charges of men having sex with young boys. Perhaps his distaste accounts for the coolness Von Steuben sensed from a man otherwise renowned for his easy humour and deft diplomacy. But Franklin was also a hardheaded businessman with few illusions about human nature. If he disapproved of the Baron's sexual practices, he was willing to overlook them if circumstances required it. The Continental Army was in desperate need of both tactical know-how and international prestige, both of which would come from a perceived alliance with the Prussian military machine. The Baron was to some extent "damaged goods", but he was the best Franklin could acquire at the moment, and if Von Steuben was not exactly the personal envoy of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, no one in America need know. Franklin welcomed the Baron to the American cause, and the marketing of Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben began.

This whole chapter of Benemann's, Gone for a Soldier, is fascinating for the many connections that seem to radiate outward from the Baron that include a degree of male intimacy. Starting with Laurens and Hamilton ironically being assigned to be his first interpreters in camp, to his first two official aide-de-camps, Captain Benjamin Walker and Captain William North, who seem to have shared a close romantic understanding or experience with each other as well, and possibly in some relation with the Baron. And of course Washington and his aide-de-camps, the subject of much discourse at the time and now.

And then of course the writer brain kicks in, not that I would take on the full job of writing a Washington first person POV and having to flesh out his characterization that much (bit rich for my blood and there's not enough years on this earth to read all the accumulated research on him...). But North and Walker would be interesting to explore. In general I like second-in-commands, there's just more room for expansion.

[a-rebellious-waffle]

In middle school History I stunned my entire class by naming the general that trained the Continental Army at Valley Forge (Baron Friedrich von Steuben), pronouncing it correctly, naming his country of origin (Prussia), and when someone asked if I meant Russia correcting them and saying no I meant the most pivotal nation-state in German unification

have i ever told y’all about the greatest moment of my academic career

i was a freshman in college and i had this history teacher who was ~edgy~ and his hotness level on ratemyprofessor was off the charts and he was the first teacher i ever heard use the word “fuck.” anyway he would do this thing every so often where we’d have a “quiz” and the first two questions were always really easy and the last one was hard - they were all similar questions, and the point was to show what you learn about history and what you don’t. 

so one day he’s like okay kids time for a quiz and the first question was who killed abraham lincoln. the second question was who killed JFK. third question was who killed william mckinley. 

we all take a few minutes and write down our answers, and then the teacher asks the questions again so we can shout out the answers. everybody answered the first two with really no problem.

now, keep in mind that this class was at 9 a.m. and i was exhausted All The Time during my freshman year of college so i sat in the back in my sweats and never said a word and the teacher definitely had no clue who i was. 

so you can imagine his surprise when he asked the class who shot william mckinley and without missing a beat i said, “czolgosz,” pronounced correctly and everything. 

my teacher froze and in a very stern voice asked, “what was that? what did someone just say?”

i repeated: czolgosz.

my teacher: “who said that?”

i raised my hand, and my super cool history teacher glared at me. he then asked me how the hell i knew the answer. he said that in the TWENTY YEARS he’d been teaching this stupid class, nobody, not A SINGLE PERSON, had ever known the answer to that question.

i then had to quietly explain to a room full of people that there’s a musical called assassins and there’s a song about czolgosz shooting william mckinley at the great pan american exposition in buffaloooooooo (in buffaloooooooo)

[underthewingsofthblackeagle]

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A post shared by Christian Wenglorz (@christian.wenglorz)

christian.wenglorz3 Wo.Die neugestaltete Schloßstraße in Potsdams „Neuer Mitte“ mit Blick auf die neue Synagoge und dem Stadtschloss im Hintergrund. Eingerahmt auf der rechten Seite vom Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben Denkmal.

The newly designed Schloßstraße in Potsdam’s so-called „New Center“ with a view of the new synagogue and the city palace in the background. Framed on the right side by the Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben monument.

Some Glimpses from Germany for your Weekend :)

[thebookkahuna]

Washington's Right Hand: How von Steuben Secured Victory

Happy Birthday USA:  July 4, 2023! Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian military officer, played a crucial role in molding the Continental Army during the American Revolution. His contributions, both on and off the battlefield, were instrumental in transforming a ragtag group of soldiers into a disciplined and effective fighting force. This essay will delve into von Steuben’s…