Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States: The Illustrated Edition
(This is General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben's book -- t...)
This is General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben's book -- this copy published in 1779 -- which explains and details his philosophy regarding troops and their regulation, a philosophy which was essential to the creation of a disciplined Continental Army during the American Revolution. This includes scans of the original plates used to help describe troop, column, and file movements in various terrain.
Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben was an American military officer. He is credited with being one of the fathers of the Continental Army in teaching them the essentials of military drills, tactics, and disciplines. He wrote Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, the book that served as standard United States drill manual until the American Civil War.
Background
Baron von Steuben was born on September 17, 1730, in Magdeburg, Germany, the son of Royal Prussian Engineer, Capt. Baron Wilhelm von Steuben, and his wife, Elizabeth von Jagvodin. When his father entered the service of Empress Anna, young Friedrich came with him to the Crimea and then to Kronstadt, staying until the Russia war against the Turks under the General Burkhard Christoph von Münnich. In 1740 Steuben's father returned to Prussia and Friedrich was educated in the garrison towns Neisse and Breslau by Jesuits. It is said that at age 14 he served as volunteer with his father in one of the campaigns of the War of the Austrian Succession.
Career
Steuben led a soldier’s life from age 16. During the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) he rose to the rank of captain in the Prussian army and was for a time attached to the general staff of Frederick II the Great. After the close of the war, he was retired from the army and became court chamberlain for the prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, and at some unknown date he apparently was created a Freiherr (baron). In 1777 it was rumoured that he had been obliged to leave Hohenzollern-Hechingen for unsavoury conduct.
His availability came to the attention of Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane - in France as agents of the newly formed U. S. government - and they composed a letter introducing him to General George Washington as a “Lieut. Genl. in the King of Prussia’s Service” who was fired with “Zeal for our Cause. ” Thus armed, Steuben arrived in America in December 1777. Impressed by his fictitiously high rank, his pleasing personality, and Washington’s favourable comments, Congress appointed him to train the Continental forces stationed at the winter encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
The model drill company that Steuben formed and commanded was copied throughout the ranks. That winter he wrote Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, which soon became the “blue book” for the entire army and served as the country’s official military guide until 1812. On Washington’s recommendation, in May 1778, Steuben was appointed inspector general of the army with the rank of major general. In 1780 he was finally granted a field command; he served as a division commander in Virginia and participated in the siege of Yorktown (1781), where the British met final defeat.
After the war Steuben settled in New York City, where he lived so extravagantly that, despite large grants of money from Congress and the grant of 16, 000 acres (6, 000 hectares) of land by New York state, he fell into debt. Finally, after ceaseless importunity, in 1790 he was voted a life pension of $2, 500, which sufficed to maintain him on his farm until he died.