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Show Birth Of An American Hero I Soptfiiiht-r 17 was I lie hirtlulay iniiivfisiii y of an often forsotu-n hero of (ho Revolution, Haron (Yicdiuh von Steutx-n. i $TKl K'-N was burn in Magile-- Magile-- (,,,'n;, Prussia, in 1 7.M), his lather an enjjiiK-er in the Prussian Army. The ',1'iiiiily had produced soldiers since 'the l-,lh century. n,. served as a v olunteer at the se of ! n 'he War of Austrian : Succession, Hy 1755 he was an officer !U1j Soon afterwards was appointed to the staff of Frederick the Great, on which he served during dur-ing the Seven Years' War. ; AFTKR THE war the emperor 'save him a position which offered little income; he looked elsewhere, first to England. On his w ay there in 1777, he passed pas-sed through Paris and Count de St. Germain, then French Minister of IVar, who w as his friend, urged him o co to America and help the Americans in their revolution. The French were at war with England.) Eng-land.) STEUBEN was persuaded to neet with Benjamin Franklin and iilas Deane, American Commis-iioners Commis-iioners in Paris. He then agreed to p to America as a volunteer. The French fitted out a ship with cannon and ammunition on which he sailed in late September of 1777, arriving Dec. I. He presented hi nisei! ni-sei! to Congress and then went to Valley Forge. WASHINGTON received him on the Z.lrd of February, I77S, making him Inspector General of the army. It was Steuben who trained and drilled the colonials into a formidable formid-able force. Congress belatedly voted him a commission but never reimbursed hi in for many expenditures out of his own pocket. After Y01 ktown he-was, he-was, however, voted a $2,500 annuity by Congress; also Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York voted him tracts of land. UK DECIDED to remain in America and made his home on the tract in New York, twelve miles north of Utica, which was later laid out as the town of Steuben. He died there four years later, in 1794. |
