Baron Von Steuben Essay, Research Paper

The Prussian Baron von Steuben, being a newcomer to the

Revolutionary cause in America, was in a position to see

many of the deficiencies in military discipline and their

causes. The reasons for his unique insight may have been

due to the fact that he was distanced from the revolutionary

ideals in America, and as a result, was able to better observe

and understand them; and ultimately use them to shape his

new and successful form of discipline in the Continental

Army. Most of the commanders of the Continental Army,

from the commander in chief to the lower officers had

subscribed to the traditional European method that relied on

fear to achieve discipline. This method of fear was probably

not essential, and had little if any effect in the early days of

the war because the soldiers were mostly fighting for their

own ideologies. To the soldiers, the commanders were of

little importance. The soldiers were going to fight their own

fight, and leave the battle when they felt it necessary. The

soldier saw himself as a volunteer, a citizen fighting in a

group of citizens, and as a result did not respond well to the

traditional forms of discipline. The soldier knew it wasnÕt

necessary for him to serve, and he knew that he would not

be looked down upon for not serving or leaving the army by

his fellow revolutionaries. He had the freedom to chose how

he wished to serve the revolution, and military service was

not an obligation. One aspect of the traditional European

system that Baron von Steuben felt needed change was the

relationship between the officers and the soldiers. Officers in

the Continental Army felt it was necessary to distance

themselves from the common soldiers, as an officer had an

obligation as a gentleman as well. This division was along

social lines, and by separation, the officers felt the common

soldiers would show even greater respect. Royster describes

this accurately by saying that the officers tried Òto make

themselves haughty objects of the soldiersÕ awe.Ó (215)

Steuben did several things to put the officers and the soldiers

on common ground. First, sergeants were no longer to do

the training and drilling of soldiers. Officers were encouraged

to train, drill, and march with their soldiers. They were also

encouraged to eat with the common soldiers as well,

whenever possible. The officers needed to show love of the

soldiers to earn their respect, and in doing this the officers

needed to set themselves as an example to the soldiers by

overachieving, rather than distancing themselves and

underachieving in the eyes of the soldier. Before Steuben

arrived, the forms of drills, training, and discipline in the

Continental Army were mainly achieved at the discretion of

each particular officer. There was no set standard for drills

and training, and each battalion, company, and regiment had

different methods. Baron von Steuben set a standard that

became universal in the army and all soldiers and officers

were to follow it. Through constant repetition of these rather

simplified drills and training methods, coupled with the newly

evident compassion and caring being shown by the officers,

soldiers soon began to show a level of pride and

professionalism in doing their duties in the Continental Army.

Steuben catered to the needs and ideologies of the men in

the Continental Army. He knew that soldiers who felt that

military service was not a necessity, would often question

authority. When given an order many soldiers would ask

ÒWhy?Ó This was what Steuben realized and built his form

of discipline around. If a soldier asked why, and there was a

good reason for it, then the soldier would ultimately obey the

order. This is why the uniformity and simplicity of SteubenÕs

system was so successful in the Continental Army.

SteubenÕs method of discipline and training was so

successful for one main reason, it was catered to the soldier

and not to the officer. It had the ultimate result of making the

soldier feel like a soldier and not like a volunteer. It

established a sense of pride in the soldiers and in the job

they did. By the later years of the war, native courage,

virtue, and liberty were not enough to encourage soldiers.

Steuben method created a professionalism in the Continental

Army which, along with the ideologies of the men, was

enough to keep the moral of the soldier high despite the

many hardships of winter camps like Valley Forge and

Morristown.

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