Architect of U.S. military training; during the darkest days at Valley Forge, Washington's prayers were answered: a military master capable of turning untrained troops into efficient soldiers arrived on the scene. (History--Struggle for Freedom).

One of my earliest childhood memories is that of riding past a "Dutch colonial," brown sandstone farmhouse built on the bank of the Hackensack River in River Edge, New Jersey. Whenever we crossed the bridge spanning the river near the old homestead, someone would point out that this was the "Steuben House." Eventually, an elementary school teacher explained who Steuben was: Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian baron and military officer who provided critical leadership in the American War for Independence. In so doing, he joined the ranks of several other European-born champions of liberty who aided the American cause, including the French military officer Marquis de ...