Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/United States/Steuben, Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand, Baron von

Steuben, Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand, Baron von, was born at Magdeburg, Prussia, Nov. 15, 1730. Entering the army at fourteen, he rose to be adjutant-general and staff-officer to Frederick the Great. After his retirement from active service, Deane induced him to go to America, where he was made major-general and inspector-general. He rendered eminent service by giving the army its first systematic drill. In this department he was the most important accession which the American army received from Europe. He settled as a farmer on land in what is now Steuben county, N.Y., given him by the State, and died there Nov. 28, 1794.—See his Life by Kapp, Bowen’s Life in Spark’s American Biography, and Greene’s German Element in the War of American Independence.