The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-11-14

he presented MS pldu 10 washington IL
was Immediately approved by the COM
mander in chief, who asked him to
carry it into effect as temporary in
spectOr with assistant inspectors de-
tailed from the line.
Steuben had many personal pecul-
iaritieS which at first amused the
American soldiers vastly and later in
spired in them the greatest affection
for him. He had a violent temper
and a gift for profanity, but the diff
Guilty was that because of his broken
English he could not give his SOL
diers the full benefit of the latter! OF
him Duponceau, who was his secre
tary and aide-de-camp, has written:
His fits of passion never offended
the soldiers. When some movement
or maneuver was not performed to his
mind, he began to swear in German
and then in French, and then in both
languages together. When he had
exhausted his artillery Of foreign oaths
he would call to his aids, "My dear
Walker, Cor my dear Duponceau come
and swear for me in English-these
fellows will not do what 1 bid them"
A good natured smile then went
through the ranks, and at last the
maneuver or the movement was per-
fectly performed"
What they appreciated most per-
haps was his quick understanding of
their democratic spirit. This is al;
the more remarkable when one realizes
that he had been trained in the rigid
school of Frederick the Great, the
ben realized from the start that he
could not make Prussian grenadiers
out Of these bush-fghters and irregu-
lars and he did not try to do it. In
stead he saw chance to make some
thing better out of them. In letter
to an old friend he wrote: "In the
first place the genius Of this nation is
not in the least to be compared with
that of the Prussians, Austrians or
French. You say to your soldier,
DO this and he doeth it. But I am
obliged to say: This is the reason
why you ought to do that and then
he does it."
The results of his work were soon
apparent for the men he trained soon
had chance to prove their worth at
the Battle of Monmouth in June, ITS.
The British had broken the American
left wing. Steuben rallied his forces
under fire and saved the army from a
rout. OF that fact Alexander Hamil-
ton, then young captain on Washing
tons staff, said II never knew or con-
ceived the value of military discipline
till that day."
Like every other foreigner in the
Continental army, Steuben suffered
from the jealousy Of the native-bOrn
officers and from the neglect and sus-
piciOn of congress. Once he threat
ened to resign. But under Washing
toms influence he refrained from do
ing so, and in due time received the
rank to which he was more than en-
titled.
At Yorktown Steuben had a chance
to prove that he was genius at siege
work as well as at drilling. There
he was actually in the trenches with
his troops when Lord CORVALLIS sent
a flag of truce with an offer of sur
render, so that he ended his military
career in blaze of glory.
A committee Of congress reported
to that body that Steuben had ''ren-
dered very important and substantial
services" and ION all occasions con-
Quoted himself like brave and expert
enced officer" In 1887 congress au-
thorized the presentation to him, in
recognition of these services, of gold
hilted sword. But 1t was not until
1870. seven years after Yorktown, that
the nation kept its promise by giving
him pension of $500 a year, the
equivalent of what he had surrendered
to enter the American service.
Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey
and New York all made him grants
Of land-the cheapest thing there was
in those days. He chose to settle in
New York, spending his summers in
the primitive environment Of his
frontier estate and his winters in the
congenial society of Manhattan. He
died suddenly, at the age of sixty-four,
on November %, 1894, at his home
near Utica, N. Y, which is still pre-
served as memorial to this "for
eigner" who did so much to make tn
American nation possible
"a by Western Newspaper Union,