The Drillmaster of Valley Forge Quotes

“But what set Steuben apart from his contemporaries was his schooling under Frederick the Great, Prince Henry, and a dozen other general officers. He had learned from the best soldiers in the world how to gather and assess intelligence, how to read and exploit terrain, how to plan marches, camps, battles, and entire campaigns. He gleaned more from his seventeen years in the Prussian military than most professional soldiers would in a lifetime. In the Seven Years’ War alone, he built up a record of professional education that none of his future comrades in the Continental Army—Horatio Gates, Charles Lee, the Baron Johann de Kalb, and Lafayette included—could match.”
― Paul Lockhart, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army

“Drill instills discipline. Constant practice of repetitive motions and movements turn men into unthinking cogs in a larger military machine. It breaks down individuality, replacing the inclination to think with the instinct to obey.”
― Paul Lockhart, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army

“A European army to fight a European war, but in America—that was what Washington wanted. Though most of the army’s leaders agreed with him, there were naysayers, too, men who thought that the best chance for winning independence was to fight a “war of posts,” a guerrilla war. American soldiers, as free men unaccustomed to deference, would never be fully capable of emulating their European counterparts. They were better suited to fighting an irregular war of raids and ambushes, avoiding outright confrontations with superior forces.”
― Paul Lockhart, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army

“[Steuben] is now Teaching the Most Simple Parts of the Exercise such as Positition and Marching of a Soldier in a Manner Quite different from that, they Have been heretofore used to, In my Oppinion More agreable to the Dictates of Reason & Common Sence than any Mode I have before seen. HENRY BEEKMAN LIVINGSTON TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON, MARCH 25, 17781”
― Paul Lockhart, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army

“He has become a symbol for German American friendship, his name gracing German cultural festivals throughout the United States, notably the “Steuben Day” parades held annually on his birthday in New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia.”
― Paul Lockhart, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army

“If I still had the Prussian spirit, such a delay would exhaust my patience, but now I am so used to such negligence that very often I feel disposed to become negligent myself. STEUBEN TO BENJAMIN WALKER, FEBRUARY 23, 17801”
― Paul Lockhart, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army