Baron von Steuben Monument

See the White House Grounds Tour web page for a map and links to other attractions on the grounds of President’s Park.

The von Steuben Monument is located at the northwest corner of Lafayette Park. It is the work of Albert Jaegers and was dedicated in December 1910, making it the last of four monuments erected in the park to foreigners who were instrumental in the American Revolution. The Thaddeus Koscuiszko Monument on the opposite corner had been dedicated only a few months earlier in May. The memorial is the result of the German-American community’s protest that von Steuben was not being honored for his part in the war, while memorials to two French soldiers already stood in Lafayette Park.

Von Steuben was a Prussian nobleman and military officer who, like many foreign officers, wanted to join the American Revolution for fame and glory. He had initially approached Benjamin Franklin and offered his services in the Continental Army as an officer, but Franklin could not accept these terms. Too many foreigners had been coming to America after being commissioned an officer, and this was beginning to have adverse moral affects on Americans who were being passed up for promotion. Franklin informed him that he would have to travel to America and personally request a commission from Congress. Not willing to do this, von Steuben returned to Prussia only to find himself being accused of homosexual conduct. This prompted him to travel to America as Franklin first suggested.

After joining the Continental Army as a volunteer, General George Washington appointed von Steuben as a temporary inspector general whose job was to travel to various camps and inspect the soldiers. Von Steuben began organizing the camps, which up to that point were just random collections of tents and latrines. Sanitation was nearly non-existent. For his effort, he was appointed Inspector General of the Army with the rank of major general. With this position, he set up accounting systems for procuring and distributing supplies, designed camp layouts, and set sanitation standards. He instigated a system of military training schools and wrote a training manual, Regulations of the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, which was used by the Army until 1814. He is known as the Father of Military Instruction. The sculpture atop the monument depicts von Steuben presiding as Inspector General over the camp at Valley Forge.

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