The Drillmaster of Valley Forge
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26. Steuben to John Hancock, February 9, 1778, SP 1:44, 45; to Samuel Adams, February 10, 1778, SP 1:47; Horatio Gates to Henry Laurens, February 17, 1778, SP 1:49; Continental Congress resolution, February 18, 1778, SP 1:51; Henry Laurens to George Washington, February 19, 1778, SP 1:52.
27. Richard Peters to Steuben, October 30, 1785, SP 6:465.
28. Steuben to John Hancock, February 9, 1778, SP 1:44.
29. Henry Laurens to George Washington, February 19, 1778, SP 1:52.
CHAPTER 4: A MAN PROFOUND IN THE SCIENCE OF WAR
1. Friedrich Kapp, Leben des amerikanischen Generals Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (Berlin, 1858), 662.
2. Charles Lee to Mrs. Sidney Lee, June 22, 1782, in Edward Langworthy, The Life and Memoirs of the Late Major General Lee (New York, 1813), 349–52.
3. Thomas Conway to Horatio Gates, April 21, 1778, SP 1:98.
4. Lafayette to Henry Laurens, January 5, 1778, PHL 12:257; Steuben to Henry Laurens, November 28, 1778, SP 1:268.
5. Duponceau diary, SP 1:9; William North, Baron von Steuben (Utica, NY, 1990), 11.
6. Steuben to Daniel Marianus Frank, July 4, 1779, SP 1:432.
7. Fleming, Washington’s Secret War, 174.
8. Ibid., 129–205.
9. Ibid., 155; Steuben to Horatio Gates, March 21, 1778, SP 1:71.
10. Henry Laurens to Steuben, January 14, 1778, SP 1:31. The actual location of Steuben’s headquarters at Valley Forge is still very much a matter of speculation. We know from Duponceau’s diary (SP 1:9) that he moved quarters at least once while at the Forge. Jacqueline Thibaut, In True Rustic Order: Historic Resource Study and Historical Base Maps of the Valley Forge Encampment, 1777–1778 (The Valley Forge Report, vol. 3; Valley Forge National Historical Park, 1982), 146–48. In his postwar memoirs, Duponceau noted that Steuben’s quarters were located very near to those of Maj. Gen. William Alexander, Lord Stirling. “Autobiography of Peter Stephen Du Ponceau,” 207–208.
11. Henry Laurens to John Laurens, February 18, 1778, PHL 12:462.
12. John Laurens to Henry Laurens, February 27, 1778, SP 1:57.
13. Duponceau diary, SP 1:9.
14. “A few Observations made on my reconnaitring the Camp,” March 5, 1778, Kalkhorst/Steuben Papers, Box 336, Folder 10, CHS.
15. Henry Laurens to John Laurens, March 1, 1778, PHL 12:491.
16. John Laurens to Henry Laurens, February 27, 1778, SP 1:57.
17. The Baron de Kalb to Henry Laurens, January 7, 1778, PHL 12:267.
18. North, Baron von Steuben, 15.
19. John Laurens to Henry Laurens, February 28, 1778, PHL 12:483–84.
20. John Laurens to Henry Laurens, February 27, 1778, SP 1:57.
21. John Laurens to Henry Laurens, March 9, 1778, PHL 12:532–33.
22. Francis Dana to Henry Laurens, March 2, 1778, SP 1:59.
23. North, Baron von Steuben, 27.
24. Ibid., 26; Duponceau diary, SP 1:9.
25. “Autobiography of Peter Stephen Du Ponceau,” 208; Harry Ammon, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity (New York, 1971), 18–22.
26. John Laurens to Henry Laurens, February 27, 1778, SP 1:57.
27. John Laurens to Henry Laurens, March 9, 1778, PHL 12:532–33; Steuben to Henry Laurens, March 12, 1778, PHL 12:552–53.
28. Joseph H. Jones, ed., The Life of Ashbel Greene, V.D.M. (New York, 1849), 109.
29. North, Baron von Steuben, 11.
30. A good discussion of the experience of combat in the Revolution can be found in Michael Stephenson, Patriot Battles: How the War of Independence Was Fought (New York, 2007).
31. Steuben to the Board of War, December 1778, SP 1:271.
CHAPTER 5: ON THE PARADE-GROUND AT VALLEY FORGE
1. SP 1:79.
2. Steuben to the Board of War, December 1778, SP 1:271.
3. General Orders, March 17, 1778, SP 1:68.
4. Ibid.
5. Henry Beekman Livingston to Robert R. Livingston, March 25, 1778, SP 1:79.
6. Steuben to the Board of War, December 1778, SP 1:271.
7. North, Baron von Steuben, 13.
8. “Autobiography of Peter Stephen Du Ponceau,” 219; North, Baron von Steuben, 12–14.
9. Steuben to the Baron de Gaudy, 1787–88, in Kapp, Leben des amerikanischen Generals Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, 662.
10. George Washington to Peter Scull, March 19, 1778, SP 1:69; to James Varnum, March 19, 1778, SP 1:70; General Orders, March 22, 1778, SP 1:73.
11. Horatio Gates to Steuben, March 25, 1778, SP 1:77.
12. General Orders, March 24, 1778, SP 1:75.
13. North, Baron von Steuben, 12–13; “Autobiography of Peter Stephen Du Ponceau,” 210–11.
14. George Washington to William Smallwood, May 1, 1778, SP 1:107.
15. General Orders, March 28, 1778, SP 1:82.
16. “Instructions for elementary Manœuvres,” March 28–April 29, 1778, SP 1:76; Steuben to the Continental Congress, May 27, 1778, SP 1:144.
17. Henry Beekman Livingston to Robert R. Livingston, March 25, 1778, SP 1:79.
18. Horatio Gates to Steuben, March 25, 1778, SP 1:77.
19. “Instructions for elementary Manœuvres,” March 28–April 29, 1778, SP 1:76.
20. Steuben to the Board of War, December 1778, SP 1:271.
21. Joseph Plumb Martin, Private Yankee Doodle, (Boston, 1962) 118.
22. John Laurens to Henry Laurens, March 25, 1778, PHL 13:36; Steuben to Henry Laurens, April 2, 1778, PHL 13:68–69; John Laurens to Henry Laurens, April 18, 1778, PHL 13:139–40.
23. Alexander Scammell to John Sullivan, April 8, 1778, SP 1:91.
24. North, Baron von Steuben, 14.
25. Alexander Scammell to Timothy Pickering, April 21, 1778, SP 1:99.
26. George Washington to the Continental Congress, April 30, 1778, SP 1:105.
27. Instructions for the feu de joie, May 5, 1778, SP 1:113.
28. John Laurens to Henry Laurens, May 7, 1778, PHL 13:264–65.
29. “Autobiography of Peter Stephen Du Ponceau,” 209.
CHAPTER 6: JEALOUSIES AND HINDRANCES
1. PHL 13:68–69.
2. Some historians have argued against this, claiming that the kind of training Steuben imparted—while typical for the period—did not actually prepare the troops for the physical conditions of combat. See, for example, Wayne K. Bodle, The Valley Forge Winter: Civilians and Soldiers in War (University Park, PA, 2004), 189–220. To make such an argument, however, is to misconstrue the nature of infantry tactics in eighteenth-century warfare; the maneuvers Steuben taught to the troops were precisely those used to form line of battle from column, and vice versa, and were therefore highly practical on the battlefield.
3. George Washington to his generals, April 20, 1778, in John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington (39 vols., Washington, DC, 1931–44), 11:282–83; Steuben to George Washington, April 25, 1778, SP 1:101.
4. Stephen R. Taaffe, The Philadelphia Campaign, 1777–1778 (Lawrence, KS, 2003), 188–89, 206–208.
5. Thomas Ewing, ed., George Ewing, Gentleman: A Soldier of Valley Forge (Yonkers, NY, 1928), 53–54.
6. Joseph Plumb Martin, Private Yankee Doodle (Boston, 1962), 83–84.
7. Ibid., 84.
8. Theodore Thayer, The Making of a Scapegoat: Washington and Lee at Monmouth (Port Washington, NY, 1976), 10; Taaffe, Philadelphia Campaign, 206–208; Henry Laurens to Francis Hopkinson, May 27, 1778, PHL 13:346–47; Gottschalk, Lafayette Joins the American Army, 186–93.
9. Lloyd A. Brown and Howard H. Peckham, eds., Revolutionary War Journals of Henry Dearborn, 1775–1783 (Freeport, NY, 1969), 121.
10. William Gordon, History of Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the United States of America (3 vols., New York, 1801), 3:192; Palmer, General von Steuben, 169–70; Henry Laurens to Richard Caswell, May 26, 1778, PHL 13:344–45.
11. Drill instructions from Steuben and William Davies, May 15, 1778, SP 1:134; G
eneral Orders, June 1, 1778, SP 1:153.
12. Jacob Morgan, Jr., to George Bryan, May 30, 1778, in Samuel Hazard, ed., Pennsylvania Archives (12 vols., Philadelphia, 1852–56), 6:568–69.
13. William Henry Drayton to Steuben, May 21, 1778, SP 1:140.
14. Richard Peters to Timothy Pickering, June 9, 1778, SP 1:160; Henry Laurens to Louis du Portail, May 20, 1778, PHL 13:336.
15. Steuben to the Continental Congress, May 27, 1778, SP 1:144.
16. By a curious coincidence, one member of Steuben’s staff already knew Conway very well: Duponceau. While in the French army, Conway had been stationed for a time on the island of Rhé. Indeed, young Duponceau owed much of his knowledge of spoken English to his early conversations with Conway. “Autobiography of Peter Stephen Du Ponceau,” 204.
17. Thayer, Making of a Scapegoat, 16.
18. Alexander Hamilton to Elias Boudinot, July 26, 1778, PAH 1:528–29.
19. “Instructions for elementary Manœuvres,” March 28–April 29, 1778, SP 1:76.
20. James Mitchell Varnum to Washington, May 5, 1778, SP 1:112.
21. Michael Ryan to Steuben, June 11, 1778, and Steuben to Ryan, June 12, 1778, SP 1:161–62; John Laurens to Henry Laurens, June 14, 1778, PHL 13:458.
22. Steuben to the Board of War, May 27, 1778, SP 1:144.
23. General Orders for June 15, 1778, SP 1:164.
24. Steuben to Washington, June 17, 1778, SP 1:165.
25. Washington to Steuben, June 18, 1778, SP 1:166.
26. Washington to Henry Laurens, June 18, 1778, SP 1:168; Alexander Hamilton to William Duer, June 18, 1778, PAH 1:497–500.
CHAPTER 7: TRIAL BY COMBAT
1. SP 1:432.
2. Steuben to George Washington, June 18, 1778, SP 1:169.
3. Johann Ewald, Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal, ed. and trans. by Joseph P. Tustin (New Haven, 1979), 132–33.
4. On the preliminaries to Monmouth, see: Taaffe, Philadelphia Campaign, 197–211; David G. Martin, The Philadelphia Campaign: June 1777–July 1778 (Cambridge, MA, 1993), 197–208; William Stryker, The Battle of Monmouth (Port Washington, NY, 1970), 47–112.
5. Steuben’s opinion at council of war, June 24, 1778, Fitzpatrick, ed., Writings of George Washington, 12:115–17; Lafayette to George Washington, June 24, 1778, in Louis Gottschalk, ed., The Letters of Lafayette to Washington, 1777–1799 (Philadelphia, 1976), 47.
6. Steuben to Charles Scott, June 25, 1778, Steuben to George Washington, June 25, 1778, and Col. Stephen Moylan to George Washington, June 25, 1778, SP 1:173–75.
7. Steuben to George Washington, June 27, 1778, SP 1:176.
8. On the course of the battle itself, see: Taaffe, Philadelphia Campaign, 212–21; Martin, Philadelphia Campaign, 209–34; Stryker, Battle of Monmouth, 117–233.
9. Kapp, Steuben, 159; John Laurens to Henry Laurens, July 2, 1778, PHL 13:545.
10. Steuben’s official—and only accurate—account of his actions at Monmouth is to be found in the testimony he presented at the court-martial of Charles Lee on July 18, 1778, printed in Charles Lee, The Lee Papers (4 vols., New York, 1871–74), 3:95–97.
11. Testimony of Lt. Col. Robert Harrison, in Lee, Lee Papers, 3:71–73.
12. John U. Rees, “What is this you have been about to day?” The New Jersey Brigade at the Battle of Monmouth (2003), Internet resource (http://revwar75.com/ library/rees/monmouth/Monmouth.htm).
13. Steuben’s testimony at the Lee court-martial, July 18, 1778, SP 1:190.
14. Alexander Hamilton to Elias Boudinot, July 5, 1778, PAH 1:513.
15. North, Baron von Steuben, 14.
16. Steuben to Daniel Marianus Frank, July 4, 1779, SP 1:432.
CHAPTER 8: THE BLUE BOOK
1. PHL 14:370–72.
2. Charles Lee to Henry Laurens, October 30, 1778, in Langworthy, Life and Memoirs of Major General Lee, 342–43.
3. General Orders, July 2, 1778, and July 5, 1778, SP 1:182, 184.
4. André-Michel de Choin to the Chevalier de Luzerne, July 22, 1778, SP 1:192.
5. John Laurens to Henry Laurens, July 6, 1778, SP 1:186.
6. George Washington to Henry Laurens, July 24, 1778, SP 1:198.
7. Testimony from court-martial of Reuben Lipscomb, July 5–9, 1778, SP 1:183; General Orders, July 12, 1778, SP 1:188.
8. General Orders, July 22, 1778, SP 1:193.
9. Alexander Hamilton to Elias Boudinot, July 26, 1778, PAH 1:528–29.
10. Louis-Pierre de La Neuville to Horatio Gates, July 1778, SP 1:179; Steuben to George Washington, July 24, 1778, SP 1:194.
11. Steuben to George Washington, July 24, 1778, SP 1:194.
12. George Washington to Henry Laurens, July 24, 1778, SP 1:198.
13. George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, July 24, 1778, SP 1:199.
14. George Washington to Henry Laurens, July 26, 1778, SP 1:202.
15. Alexander Hamilton to Elias Boudinot, July 26, 1778, PAH 1:528–29.
16. Steuben to Richard Peters, October 1, 1778, SP 1:242.
17. Steuben to George Washington, August 7, 1778, SP 1:208.
18. The Baron d’Arendt to Steuben, July 24, 1778, SP 1:195; the Chevalier de Crénis to Steuben, July 24, 1778, SP 1:196–97.
19. Gouverneur Morris to George Washington, August 2, 1778, SP 1:204.
20. Henry Laurens to George Washington, August 20, 1778
21. Conrad-Alexandre Gérard to Steuben, September 12, 1778, SP 1:228; Henry Laurens to Steuben, September 17, 1778, PHL 14:323–24.
22. Opinion of the Board of General Officers, September 11, 1778, SP 1:227.
23. George Washington to Henry Laurens, September 12, 1778, SP 1:229.
24. Steuben to Conrad-Alexandre Gérard, September 25, 1778, SP 1:236.
25. Steuben to Conrad-Alexandre Gérard, September 24, 1778, SP 1:235.
26. Steuben to Richard Peters, October 1, 1778, SP 1:242; Steuben to Joseph Reed, October 5, 1778, SP 1:244; Steuben to Henry Laurens, October 1, 1778, PHL 14:370–72.
27. Henry Laurens to Steuben, October 12, 1778, PHL 14:400–401; C. F. William Maurer, Dragoon Diary: The History of the Third Continental Light Dragoons (Bloomington, IN, 2005), 129–47, 465–97.
28. Steuben to Henry Laurens, October 1, 1778, PHL 14:370–72.
29. Ibid.
30. Steuben’s opinions on a British expedition against Boston, and on American winter quarters, October 18, 1778, SP 1:248.
31. George Washington to Henry Laurens, November 13, 1778, SP 1:264; Steuben to Henry Laurens, November 26, 1778, SP 1:265.
32. Steuben to the Continental Congress, November 28, 1778, SP 1:267.
33. Remarks on the Prussian and French armies, November 1778–February 1779, SP 1:251; remarks on French infantry regulations, November 1778–February 1779, SP 1:252; remarks on duties of staff officers in the French army, November 1778–February 1779, SP 1:253; instructions for maneuvers, November 1778–February 1779, SP 1:257; instructions for baggage on the march, November 1778–February 1779, SP 1:258.
34. Francy to Beaumarchais, November 24, 1778, in Brian N. Morton, ed., Correspondance de Beaumarchais (4 vols., Paris, 1969–78), 4:275–76.
35. Steuben to Charles Lee, December 2, 1778, SP 1:273; Alexander Hamilton to Steuben, December 19, 1778, PAH 1:601.
36. Lord Stirling to George Washington, February 26, 1779, SP 1:298; comments of Lord Stirling and Arthur St. Clair, February 26, 1779, SP 1:299; George Washington to William Galvan, March 11, 1779, SP 1:308.
37. Memorial of Baron de Knoblauch to Congress, May 4, 1779, SP 1:337.
38. Richard Peters to Henry Laurens, January 22, 1779, SP 1:286; Charles Carré to Steuben, July 12, 1780, SP 2:388; Palmer, General von Steuben, 201–202.
39. Chapter outline for regulations, November 1778–February 1779, SP 1:255; George Washington to Steuben, February 26, 1779, SP 1:297; Steuben to George Washington, March 5, 1779, SP 1:303; Steuben to the Continental Congress, March 25, 1779, SP 1:312; Timothy Pickering to John Jay, March 2
7 and 29, 1779, SP 1:314, 315; Congressional resolutions on Regulations, March 29, 1779, SP 1:316.
40. Kapp, Steuben, 660–61.
41. Steuben to the Continental Congress, March 25, 1779, SP 1:312.
42. Robert S. Quimby, The Background of Napoleonic Warfare: The Theory of Military Tactics in Eighteenth-Century France (New York, 1957), 113–33. Guibert’s book, Essai général de tactique (Paris, 1772), was perhaps the most important book on tactical theory to appear in the eighteenth century. Among other things, it advocated a much simplified “manual exercise,” as Steuben did. The Baron, in fact, owned a copy, as well as copies of books by most of Guibert’s rivals—Mesnil-Durand, Puységur, and Folard. “Catalogue de ma Bibliotheque,” 1788, SP 7:489.
43. Lord Stirling to George Washington, February 26, 1779, SP 1:298; Lord Stirling’s and Arthur St. Clair’s comments, February 26 and March 10, 1779, SP 1:299, 306; George Washington to Steuben, March 11, 1779, SP 1:307.
CHAPTER 9: THE TRUE MEANING OF DISCIPLINE
1. SP 2:212.
2. George Washington to James Duane, January 8, 1779, SP 1:281; remarks on formation of the army, March 1779, SP 1:301; report of Board of War, January 21, 1779, SP 1:285; James Duane to George Washington, January 24, 1779, SP 1:287.
3. Henry Laurens to John Laurens, April 18, 1779, SP 1:329; Steuben to Richard Peters, June 12, 1779, SP 1:404.
4. Palmer, General von Steuben, 314.
5. Lord Stirling’s and Arthur St. Clair’s comments, February 26, 1779, SP 1:299.
6. Richard Peters to Steuben, June 19, 1779, SP 1:411.
7. Steuben to William North, October 23, 1788, SP 7:205.
8. Steuben to Benjamin Walker, February 23, 1780, SP 2:212; Steuben to August-François Des Epiniers, November 1, 1779, SP 2:80; Des Epiniers to Steuben, January 1780, January 12, and April 14, 1780, SP 2:152, 157, 257; Francy to Steuben, January 12 and March 4, 1780, SP 2:156, 226; Francy to Beaumarchais, November 10 and 24, 1778, in Morton, ed., Correspondance de Beaumarchais, 4:262–63, 275–76.
9. Steuben to Daniel Marianus Frank, July 4, 1779, SP 1:432.
10. Kapp, Steuben, 641.
11. Conrad-Alexandre Gérard, May 6, 1779, SP 1:340.