Baron von Steuben

Baron von Steuben, an important person that placed a decisive role in the Revolutionary War but more precisely in the Continental army he played a protagonist role. Von Steuben was born in Magdeburg, Germany in 1730. His father was a lieutenant engineer. Steuben passed his adolescence in Russia, but then his father moved to Germany again. He began his soldier career at the age of 17 when he joined the army of Prussia. His experience in this army helped a lot and eventually it was this experience the one that made the American soldiers (the Continental Army) actually an army. Towards the 1775, bad decisions made by the Baron cause him to fall in a debt. Because von Steuben was in economic crisis, he seek work in foreign armies. It was destiny or fate that was on his side. In that year and precisely at that time Benjamin Franklin was seeking help in Paris for his Continental soldiers. This meant a great opportunity for a job to von Steuben.
February 23, 1778 Baron von Steuben started his volunteer work in the Continental Army. Steuben gave advice to Washington while on Valley Forge. Although von Steuben didn’t speak English, it wasn’t an obstacle for communicating because he spoke French and in this way he communicated with some officers. Steuben trained 100 men at first and then he continued to share his knowledge. He changed the way of fighting, gave new techniques of firing but also started a camp sanitation which helped the army to gain discipline as well as live in a clean environment. He later retired and died in New York in 1794.