The Drillmaster of Valley Forge

June 9, 2008
Lockhart, professor of history at Wright State University, has written the first modern scholarly biography of one of the American Revolution’s iconic figures. Friedrich von Steuben is regularly described as the man whose drilling and discipline made an army out of the demoralized men camped at Valley Forge in the winter of 1776. Lockhart makes solid use of primary and secondary sources to present a more complete picture of the Continental Army’s inspector-general. Steuben exaggerated his rank and status in order to secure employment, but was fully justified in asserting mastery of the techniques of war as practiced in Europe. Steuben learned his craft during 17 years of service in the army of Frederick the Great. There was no better school. Lockhart demonstrates the importance of European-style tactics to a war that could not be won by ambush and skirmishing alone. He shows how clearly Steuben understood the differences between American citizen-soldiers and the outcasts and conscripts that filled Europe’s ranks. And he describes Steuben’s contributions after Valley Forge to creating an army that won battles from Monmouth to Yorktown. Illus., maps.