But what set [Baron von] Steuben apart from his contemporaries was his schooling under Frederick the Great, Prince Henry, and a dozen other general officers. He had learned from the best soldiers in the world how to gather and assess intelligence, how to read and exploit terrain, how to plan marches, camps, battles and entire campaigns. He gleaned more from his seventeen years in the Prussian military than most professional soldiers would in a lifetime. In the Seven Years’ War alone, he built up a record of professional education that none of his future comrades in the Continental Army — Horatio Gates, Charles Lee, the Baron Johann de Kalb, and Lafayette included — could match.
Unknown Artist
Paper mâché tray. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI.
Two-sided locket, ivory; 2 1/2 in. ( 6.4 cm ). New-York Historical Society, New York, NY.
Mezzotint; 356 mm x 238 mm.; published in London by John Morris. British Museum, London, England.
The only known portrait of Steuben without a military uniform, at about age 40.
Oil on canvas, lined to fiberglass; 38 x 72 1/2 in. (96.5 x 184.2 cm). New-York Historical Society, New York, NY.
The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army (2008)