Snapshot · The Rest Is History
Von Steuben's military drills became the official instruction manual for the US Army and continued to influence American military strategy right through to the Civil War.
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At 1:02:42 · chapter starts 59:20
The transformation of the Continental Army begins with one of the war's most colourful characters: Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a former Prussian officer discharged under murky circumstances — the episode strongly implies he was gay — who had made contact with Benjamin Franklin and sailed to America with his greyhound Azor, his excellently named secretary Pierre-Étienne du Ponceau (aged 17), and a 'suspiciously handsome young aide.' Washington gives von Steuben 120 men as guinea pigs. He drills them daily, writes the instructions in French, has Alexander Hamilton translate them into English, and teaches them — among many things — to actually use their bayonets, which the Americans had previously used only to 'roast their beefsteaks.'[7] Von Steuben also tackles the camp's abysmal sanitation, insisting the latrines be moved away from kitchens and cabins. The men adore him: eccentric, funny, swearing enthusiastically in broken English, he's compared to Claudio Ranieri managing Leicester City. His drills become the US Army's official manual [1] — Dominic Sandbrook "Von Steuben's drill manual used until Civil War: Von Steuben's military drills became the official instruction manual for the US Army and c…" 1:02:42 and remain standard until the Civil War. After the war, von Steuben becomes an American citizen, receives a New York estate, and adopts two handsome young officers as his heirs.
A jowly Prussian with a huge red nose, comically bad English, a greyhound called Azor, and suspiciously handsome young aides arrived at Valley Forge in February 1778. Von Steuben drilled 120 men into a professional unit, taught them bayonets, cleaned up the camp's latrines, and created a training manual that shaped the US Army until the Civil War.
In the dying days of April 1778, news reached Valley Forge: Benjamin Franklin had secured French recognition of the American Republic at Versailles. Washington's troops fired their guns, shouted 'Long live the King of France,' and even Washington — stoic, glacial Washington — played cricket. The war was now a global conflict, and the odds had fundamentally shifted against Britain.
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