General Von Steuben Statue

General Von Steuben Statue

NPS / Claire Hassler

Quick Facts

Location:

Washington, DC

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Sculpted by the German-American sculptor Albert Jaegers, this statue portrays Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (1730-1794) as he inspected American troops in 1778 during the American Revolution. Von Steuben’s experiences as a member of the Prussian army gave him a wealth of knowledge. He is well known for bringing American soldiers the technical knowledge necessary to form a professional army. 

Before von Steuben lent his military expertise, the Continental Army was in shambles. The thirteen state militias had differing standards for everything they did. Thus the citizen soldiers lacked the training and discipline to form a cohesive fighting force that could stand up to the British. Von Steuben brought order and professionalism to the army — overcoming his heavy reliance on translators. 

After his successes training troops in the Revolutionary War, von Steuben prepared the "Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States.” This manual provided written standards for the training of the army, including instructions for camp layout and sanitation. Von Steuben’s manual, edited and revised many times over the years, lives on in the most recent US Army “Blue Book” issued in 2024. After von Steuben’s discharge from the army on March 24, 1784, he became an American citizen and was granted 16,000 acres of land near Rome, New York.

This statue, erected on the northwest corner of Lafayette Park in 1910, shows von Steuben wearing the uniform of a major general of the Continental army, heavily cloaked against the rigors of the winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. It consists of a 10-foot-tall bronze portrait of von Steuben placed atop a 15-foot-tall base of pink granite. The base is flanked by groupings of allegorical bronze figures on its northeast and southwest sides and contains ornamental reliefs with accompanying inscriptions on its northwest and southeast sides. Von Steuben’s two closest aide-de-camps, Colonel William North and Major Benjamin Walker, are immortalized on the southeast side of the monument with the famed general.