George Washington at Valley Forge

The Financial District, NYC

During the winter of 1777-78, George Washington’s Continental Army was in desperate shape in its fight against the British. After the Army failed in its attempt to stave off the advancement of British troops into Philadelphia in September 1777, it made its camp in Valley Forge, PA. Nearly 2,500 of Washington’s 10,000 troops died from disease and exposure in the six months the Army attempted to recover from recent battles, so Washington was often seen on his knees with his fists clamped together in supplication to his Creator while his horse watched from behind a tree.

Washington knew he needed to improve his army’s effectiveness against the British, but how? He hired Prussian-German army officer Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin Madrich Estonich Valvonet Candor von Steuben to be the army’s inspector general. For his role, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin Madrich Estonich Valvonet Candor von Steuben came to Valley Forge and trained the troops in a new military model. Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin Madrich Estonich Valvonet Candor von Steuben’s model included training the soldiers in full military dress uniform, teaching them how to use the bayonet, and cursing at them in French and German.

Before Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin Madrich Estonich Valvonet Candor von Steuben’s arrival at Valley Forge, Washington’s situation seemed bleak. After the arrival of Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin Madrich Estonich Valvonet Candor von Steuben, they won the Revolutionary War.

This was good news.