The below article on Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, is a compilation of two columns written by
Philadelphia Gay News Publisher Mark Segal, who is the nation's most award-winning commentator in GLBT media.
"After years of studying almost anything
available on Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, the material suggesting that
von Steuben was gay is so overwhelming that the only thing that can be asked of
anyone who doubts it is, "Prove to me he’s not". There is literally not room in
this article to list all the facts that point to a practice of homosexuality on
the part of von Steuben.
On the other hand, there is only one thing
historians can point to that suggests von Steuben was heterosexual, and it
comes from the first biography on the baron in 1859, The Life of Frederick
William von Steuben by Fredrich Kapp. At the end of the 700-plus-page bio,
Kapp writes, "Steuben was never married. It seems, however, that he met with
disappointment in early life. While preparing to remove to his farm, the
accidental fall of a portrait of a most beautiful young woman from his
cabinet, which was picked up by his companion and shown to him, with the
request to be told from whom it was taken, produced a most obvious emotion of
strong tenderness, and the pathetic exclamation, ‘O, she was a matchless woman!’
He never afterwards alluded to the subject". This flimsy story is one of the
few items in the book with no attribution. It has since been attributed to a
host of the baron’s acquaintances. But most interesting of all is that each
time von Steuben encountered the charge of being “homosexual", he never denied
it or defended himself, he just moved on.
There are few historians today who would doubt
that Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben was gay. That is the notion this
writer has argued for the past two years, and no accredited historian has
refuted its main theme that, without von Steuben, there would be no United
States of America and that von Steuben, in today’s terms, would be considered a
gay man.
To appreciate the contributions von Steuben
(1730-94) made to the American Revolution, consider this: Before his arrival in
Valley Forge in 1778, the Revolutionary Army had lost several battles to
Great Britain and the colonies were on the path to defeat. Without his
leadership, the United States of America might still be the British colonies.
Before von Steuben arrived at Valley Forge, the
Revolutionary Army was a loosely organized, rag-tag band of men with little
military training or discipline. The military fumbled through the beginning of
the war for independence lacking training and organization. Gen. George
Washington and the Continental Congress knew that without help from additional
seasoned military experts, the colonies would clearly lose.
Since Washington himself was the best the
colonies had, they looked to Europe for someone who could train the troops. To that
end, Washington wrote the colonies’ representatives in Paris, among them Benjamin
Franklin, to see what he could come up with. Franklin, a renowned inventor, was
treated as a celebrity in the French court. This would be pivotal in achieving
his two major objectives in France: winning financial support for the American
Revolution and finding military leaders who could bring a semblance of order to
the Revolutionary Army.
Franklin learned of a “brilliant” Prussian
military genius, Lt. Gen. Baron Friedrich von Steuben, who had a string of
successes across Germanic Europe. But there was one problem. He’d been asked to
depart many of those states and countries because of his “affections for
members of his own sex", according to biographer Paul Lockhart’s The Drillmaster
of Valley Forge.
This became urgent in 1777 when he literally
escaped imprisonment in what is now Germany and traveled to Paris. In Paris,
Franklin was interviewing candidates to assist Washington back in the colonies
when his fellow Colonial representative Silas Deane, a former representative to
the first Continental Congress and a friend of Franklin, brought von Steuben to
his residence for an interview in June. Deane is best known for recruiting the
Marquis de Lafayette.
During the interview process, Franklin
discovered von Steuben’s reputation for having “affections” with males and the
issue became pressing, as members of the French clergy demanded the French
court, as in other countries, take action against this sodomite, whom they
considered a pedophile. They had decided to make their effort a crusade and run
him out of France.
Lockhart’s biography tells of von Steuben’s
being summoned from Paris to Karlsrube, at the court of the Margrave of Baden,
for a military vacancy. But, Lockhart notes, “what he found waiting for him at
Karlsrube was not an officer’s commission but a rumor, a horrible, vicious
rumor” that the Baron had “taken familiarities with young boys".
Those allegations were fueled by von Steuben’s
close ties to Prince Henry and Frederick the Great, also “widely rumored to be
homosexual".
Von Steuben returned to Paris, and Franklin had
a choice here – and he decided von Steuben’s expertise was more important to the
colonies than his sexuality. While it can be debated how much a part Franklin
played in the recruitment of von Steuben, one cannot doubt that one of the most
informed people at the French court would know of the allegations against the
baron. With that knowledge, and with von Steuben about to be jailed, Franklin,
along with Deane, wrote what must be the nation’s first example of “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell” as they mutually signed a recommendation letter to General
Washington that embellished von Steuben’s military expertise and titles and
suggested he had been recommended by various princes and “other great
personages". Most surprisingly, it remarked that “his distinguished character
and known abilities were attested to by two judges of military merit in this
country".
The judges of character that Franklin referred
to were two of the four involved in the plot to bring von Steuben to America,
along with Franklin and Deane, and personal friends of the baron: Pierre
Beaumarchais, author of the Figaro plays and an arms dealer who supplied arms
for the ship von Steuben eventually sailed on, and Claude Louis, Comte de
Saint-Germain, the minister of war under Louis XVI.
What the letter didn’t mention was that he was
about to be arrested and appear before judges in France.
Franklin, working with Deane, decided von
Steuben’s “affections” were less important than what he, Washington and the
colonies needed to win the war with England. Deane learned of von Steuben’s
indiscretions — and that the French clergy was investigating — as evidenced from a letter to
the Prince of Hechingen, his former employer, which read in part:
It has come to me from different sources that
M. de Steuben is accused of having taken familiarities with young boys,
which the laws forbid and punish severely. I have even been informed that that is
the reason why M. de Steuben was obliged to leave Hechingen and that the
clergy of your country intend to prosecute him by law as soon as he may establish
himself anywhere.
Deane, along with Franklin, acted quickly before
the clergy could deport or imprison von Steuben and plotted to send him to
the colonies to serve with Washington. The proof of Franklin and Deane’s
knowledge lies in the letter to Washington recommending von Steuben and their
quick action to secure the baron from France. So, in September 1777, von
Steuben boarded a 24-gun ship named Heureux – but, for this voyage, the ship’s
name was changed to Le Flamand, and the baron’s name was entered onto the
captain’s log as “Frank.” And he was on his way to the colonies. Von Steuben
was given an advance for passage to America and began as a volunteer, without
pay.
Once the general had arrived in Valley Forge,
Washington was concerned about von Steuben’s inability to speak English, so he
appointed two of his officers who spoke French to work as his translators. One
of those officers was Alexander Hamilton and the other, his close friend John
Laurens. Within months, von Steuben gained Washington’s confidence and began to
transform the colonial army.
Washington and Franklin’s trust in von Steuben
was rewarded. He whipped the rag-tag army of the colonies into a professional
fighting force, able to take on the most powerful superpower of the time,
England. Some of his accomplishments include instituting a “model company” for
training, establishing sanitary standards and organization for the camp, and
training soldiers in drills and tactics such as bayonet fighting and musket
loading. According to “The Papers of Von Steuben,” the following is a timeline
of his achievements.
February 1778: Arrives at Valley Forge to serve
under Washington, having informed Congress of his desire for paid service
after an initial volunteer trial period, with which request Washington
concurs.
March 1778: Begins tenure as inspector general,
drilling troops according to established European military precepts.
1778-79: Writes “Regulations for the Order and
Discipline of the Troops of the United States,” which becomes a fundamental
guide for the Continental Army and remains in active use through the War of
1812, being published in over 70 editions.
1780-81: Senior military officer in charge of
troop and supply mobilization in Virginia.
1781: Replaced by Marquis de Lafayette as
commander in Virginia.
1781-83: Continues to serve as Washington’s
inspector general, and is active in improving discipline and streamlining
administration in the army.
Spring 1783: Assists in formulating plans for
the postwar American military.
Washington rewarded Von Steuben with a house at
Valley Forge, which he shared with his aide-de-camps Capt. William North and
Gen. Benjamin Walker. Walker lived with him through the remainder of his
life, and von Steuben, who neither married nor denied any of the allegations of
homosexuality, left his estate to North and Walker. There wasn’t much else to
claim, as the baron was in debt at the time of his death, according to both
Kapp and Lockhart. His last will and testament has been described as a love
letter to Walker and has been purported to describe their “extraordinarily
intense emotional relationship", yet that line was not in the Kapp biography of
1859. Both North and Walker are featured in the statue of von Steuben in
Lafayette Park across from the White House.
Speculation over who von Steuben slept with
abounded from Prussia to France to the United States. Yet he never once denied
it. The closest he came to the topic was to ask Washington to speak on behalf
of his morals in a letter to Congress so they would authorize the disbursement
of his pension. And why did he ask Washington?
Since his arrival in Philadelphia to assist the
Revolution, von Steuben had financial issues caused by a Continental
Congress that often didn’t keep its funding promises, a challenge compounded by his
own personality: Von Steuben at times could be cold and aloof, which was
problematic when diplomacy was needed with an important member of Congress. He
also had a tendency to live and spend extravagantly, especially on his
uniforms, which were often emblazoned with epaulets and medals of his own
design.
Due to his financial picture — and
misconceptions about his association with Deane, who, along with Franklin, brought him to
the Revolution, but who was later disgraced as traitor to the United States
— von Steuben had to fight for his pension.
Adding to that were the constant rumors about
his sexuality, which by 1790 had reached one of the revolution’s first
families, the Adamses of Massachusetts.
Charles, the son of John and Abigail Adams — the
second president and First Lady of the new union — was what today would be called
the black sheep of the family. Early on, Abigail considered him “not at peace
within himself". His biggest problem was alcoholism but, as revealed in letters
among the various members of the family, the Adamses had other concerns.
As John Ferling wrote in the biography John
Adams: A Life, “There are references to [Charles’] alleged proclivity for
consorting with men whom his parents regarded as unsavory". One of these men
was von Steuben, who, as Ferling writes, many at the time considered
homosexual. Charles had become infatuated with and adored Von Steuben. It is
clear in the family letters that the Adamses were concerned about a
relationship between Charles and the baron. Von Steuben’s sexuality was an open
secret, one that he himself never challenged, other than to ask Washington to
defend his moral character.
Washington, always the diplomat, wrote of the
general and friend rather than of von Steuben’s personal life, practicing
today’s notion of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
It’s hard to question von Steuben’s importance –
especially as Washington’s last official act as commander-in-chief of the
Continental Army was to write a letter to the baron. Sent from Annapolis and
dated Dec. 23, 1783, Washington wrote:
My dear Baron: Altho’ I have taken frequent
opportunities, both in public and private, of acknowledging your great zeal, attention
and abilities in performing the duties of your office; yet I wish to make use
of this last moment of my public life, to signifie (sic) in the strongest terms
my entire approbation of your conduct, and to express my sense of the
obligations the public is under to you, for your faithful and meritorious
services.
I beg you will be convinced, my dear sir, that I
should rejoice if it could ever be in my power to serve you more essentially
than by expression of regard and affection; but in the meantime, I am persuaded
you will not be displeased with this farewell token of my sincere friendship
and esteem for you.
This is the last letter I shall ever write while
I continue in the service of my country; the hour of my resignation is fixed at
12 this day, after which I shall become a private citizen on the banks of the
Potomack, where I shall be glad to embrace you, and to testify the great esteem
and consideration with which I am, etc.
The Baron is a puzzle. At first, I really didn’t like him: The man himself was pompous, cold and theatrical, and his uniforms and title were stage props for an officer who didn’t even speak English when he got to Valley Forge. But I respected him for what he did to help Washington’s rag-tag army to defeat the British, eventually leading to the creation of our country. His knowledge created the first sense of military discipline in the colonies. My appreciation for him came from his most recent biographer, Paul Lockhart, whose book The Drillmaster of Valley Forge offers a complete look at von Steuben’s work.
There is one story in the book that could be considered rather scandalous in today’s terms: Von Steuben most likely threw the first underwear party in the United States military, at his house in Valley Forge.
As Lockhart writes, “The Baron hosted a party exclusively for their lower-ranking friends. He insisted, though, that ‘none should be admitted that had on a whole pair of breeches', making light of the shortages that affected the junior officers as they did the enlisted men".
The nation that von Steuben helped found has
memorialized him with numerous statues, including those at Lafayette Square
near the White House and at Valley Forge and Utica, N.Y. (where he is buried),
and German Americans celebrate his birthday each year on Sept. 17, hosting parades
in New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago.
It was von Steuben who played a giant role in
not only the creation of our military, but the idea of military academies, a
standing army and even veterans organizations. If George Washington was the
father of the nation, then von Steuben, a gay man, was the father of the United
States military."
