The New Student's Reference Work/Steuben, Frederic William Augustus

Steu'ben, Frederic William Augustus, Baron, a general in the Revolutionary War, was born at Magdeburg, Prussia, Nov. 15, 1730. He served when only 14 in the siege of Prague, and rose in the army until in 1752 he was on the staff of Frederick the Great. He came to America in 1778 and offered his services to Washington, who gladly accepted them, as it was in the dark days of Valley Forge. He was appointed inspector-general, and remodeled the army. He took part in the siege of Yorktown, and spent his whole fortune in clothing his men. Congress in 1790 voted him $2,400 yearly and a township of land near Utica, N. Y., where he died on Nov. 28, 1794. See Life by Kapp.