USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. I > Part 20
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It was by the said act further enacted that "until other legislation shall be made in the premise, it shall and may be lawful to and for the justices of the Court of Sessions for the said county of Steuben, or a majority of them, at any general sessions of the peace, to divide the county into as many towns as they shall deem necessary, and that the said justices, at any such general sessions, shall fix and direct the place or places in each of the said towns so to be made, at which the first town meeting for electing town officers shall be held, and all future meetings in any such town, shall be held at such place as a majority of the inhabitants thereof shall by open vote at any town meeting appoint."
It was further enacted by the said act that "until other pro- vision shall be made by law, the freeholders and inhabitants of the said County of Steuben shall give their votes for two members of the assembly in the same manner as if the said County of Steuben was part of the County of Ontario, and that the votes taken in said County of Steuben at each election for members of the As-
*The Indian line extended through the lower forks of the Genesee river, near Mt. Morris, north to Lake Ontario and south to the north line of Pennsylvania.
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sembly, shall be delivered by the Clerk of the said County of Steuben to any one of the Supervisors of the said County of Steuben who shall carry the same to the office of the clerk of the County of Ontario without delay ; and the said clerk of the Coun- ty of Ontario shall deliver the same to the Supervisors of the said county on the last Tuesday in May in every year, and the same, together with the votes taken at the same election in the said County of Ontario, shall be canvassed by the supervisors of the County of Ontario and by any one or more of the supervisors of the County of Steuben, if any shall attend for that purpose from the said County of Steuben."
THE COUNTY'S NAMESAKE.
Who was our namesake? Why -was his name selected for the new county ? Steuben was a soldier of fortune, seeking employ- ment at the courts of Europe. He had gained deserved honor and military distinction in the service of Frederick of Prussia, and in the armies of some of the other powers of Europe; but political and religious revolutions had left him stranded. During the most gloomy and forbidding period of the American Revolution he visited France for employment in her military service. His posi- tion, rank and achievements were set forth, at the suggestion of the French ministry, and by Dr. Franklin, then in France, in the diplomatic service of the United States, Steuben was called General to give greater glory to his mission. It was true that while he was attached to the staff of Frederick the Great, he had ably dis- charged the duties of Inspector General of the royal armies to the complete satisfaction of that monarch, so that he and his friends thought that he had fully earned that title; besides he had been informed of the punctilio of the American army on the subject of rank, and the jealousy evinced toward foreigners seeking assign- ments to official military position. Then there was no hesitation in collecting his various commends and claims to attention, un- der one comprehensive generalization. By the Court of the Mar- grave of Baden he was honored for his service to that court with the "Cross and Star of the Order of Fidelity" and with the title of "Baron" of that order, but with the most frugal emoluments. He was introduced to Dr. Franklin as a "Baron of the Margrave of Baden." Steuben relied upon this title for his preferment, happily then ignorant of the odiousness with which Americans re- garded such appellation. Franklin said to him: "You must go as an Inspector General of the Prussian Army; for there is not a member of congress who ever heard of a Margravate of Baden." This expression was concurred in and approved by Alexander Hamilton. So he entered the service of the United States as General Steuben. The appellation of Baron was and is belittling , his true worth and position; it is odious to the spirit of the federal constitution (Sect. 9). Like the term of the "Grand Knight of the Garter," it confers no more distinction or evidence of worth and ability than the title of Professor or Doctor given by a frontier school in America. Organizations and societies, articles of trade and commerce bear the name "Baron" Steuben; General Steuben carries more honor to our namesake, and more merit to its bearer.
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Our namesake-Frederick William Von Steuben-was born November 15, 1730, in the fortress of Magdeburgh, Saxony, where his father was an officer in the Prussian military service. His early life was spent in military en- campments in Prussia, Cronstadt and in the Crimea. At the age of four- teen he served as a volunteer at the siege 'of Prague. He was afterwards put to school at the Jesuit colleges of Niesse and Breslau, where he acquired a superior knowledge of mathematics, a fair acquaintance with history and the humanities. Upon his graduation he entered the Prussian army, became a lieutenant in 1753, distinguished himself at the battle of Rossbach, where the French and German armies were met by Frederick in person, and gal- lantly defeated; the regiment of Steuben was in the van, and gloriously shared in the honors of that memorable day; here he was wounded; after his recovery he was made adjutant general.
Statue of General Steuben, the namesake of Steuben County, now be- ing erected in Washington, D. C., by resolution of Congress.
Throughout the Seven Years' War, which was training upon the other side of the Atlantic a school of soldiers for the American Revolution, he was in constant service and always brilliantly acquitted himself. He actively served in the invasion of Poland in 1761, and afterwards was sent into Pomerania, and to the relief of Colberg; was taken prisoner by the Russians and sent to St. Petersburg. The Czar, Peter III., tried to induce him to enter his service by offering him prominent positions. He declined and returned to Prussia; was appointed a captain and made an aide-de-camp on the personal staff of the king, and took an active part in the brilliant conclusions of the Seven Years' War.
This struggle being ended, Steuben received a special mark of the con- fidence of the Great Frederick, by heing admitted within the select circle of young officers to whom the king was pleased to give instruction in person in the art of war; a still more convincing test of that frugal monarch's satisfaction lies in the fact that he gave him a benefice of the annual value
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of four hundred thalers; he was now about thirty years old. Soon after, for reasons deemed sufficient, he quit the Prussian military service, and be- came somewhat a soldier of fortune. He was grand marshal to the court of the prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, which he filled for ten years; he was also created a general in the forces of this prince. By the margrave of Baden he was made a Baron and Knight of the order of Fidelity, whose golden star he ever after wore.
In the spring of 1777 he visited Paris, met the Count St. Germain, with whom he was acquainted, who then held the high office of Minister of War of France. This shrewd Frenchman well knowing that Stenben was a soldier who had thoroughly learned the art of war, the management of camps, the drill of troops and the whole economy of a campaign in the school of ex- perience, under the eye of the ablest and most energetic soldier of the age, dramatically threw down a map of the revolted American Colonies and said, "Here is your field of battle. Here is a republic you must serve. Here is a canse that yon admire and needs your energies. You are the very man she needs at this moment. If you succeed your fortune is made, and you will acquire more glory than you could hope for in Europe in a great many years to come."
Steuben hesitated for a time, meanwhile he was introduced to Silas Deane and Dr. Benjamin Franklin, the American Commissioners. Franklin with great caution and economy would not promise to defray the expenses of Steuben, for which he was then in great need. Deane had told him that his pecuniary needs would all be provided for without difficulty; but Franklin in his forcible Saxon words that were literally translated to him, left no doubt on his mind of the true state of American finanees and credit. In- deed from his terse expressions, Stenben thought him positive and rude.
Through the influence of Mr. Deane, M. de Beaumarchais,"the versatile author of "Figaro," then managing a great deal of contraband aid to the United States in a disguised mercantile capacity, tendered to Steuben a hand- some advance. About the same time he met Prince Louis William of Baden. in whose service he had been, who urgently insisted upon, and encouraged the journey to America and deposited funds for his use in the venture. This determined Steuben upon his course. He resolved to go to America. So on the 26th of September, 1777, he sailed from Marseilles in the twenty-four gun ship "l'Heureux," called for this voyage "le Flamand." Steuben was entered in the ship's books as "Frank." After two months the ship entered the harbor of Portsmouth, N. H. General Steuben was received by the commanding officer of the town in a style due his rank. He brought with him an imposing suite, who became more or less distinctive in the Ameriean service: Major L'Enfant, who was long years after employed in laying out the city of Washington, and planned the foundation for its superb beauty; Captain de Pontiere, who was attached to and did brave work in Pulaski's legion, and M. Duponceau, his secretary, a gentleman of large literary abil- ity-his skill in the use of the English language commended him to the use of the General, who could scarcely speak or understand a word of English. He afterwards occupied a distinguished position among the savants of Phila- delphia as a philologist and as president of the American Philosophical Society.
From Portsmouth, Steuben and his companions set out for the American Congress then at York, Pennsylvania; from thence to join Washington at headquarters at Valley Forge. He had been commissioned by Congress a major general, and by Washington was assigned to duty as the inspector general of the army. This office was the creation of that famous intrigue known as "Conway's Cabal." By this rascally and treasonable scheme devised by Conway, Gates, Miffin and Charles Lee, Washington was to be displaced hy Gates who had appropriated the glory of the surrender of Burgoyne to him- self (it justly belonged to others). Conway, born in Ireland, had fled to Franee; from thence he came to the United States; was to continue to fill the newly created office of inspector general, to which he had been just ap- pointed; Miffin and Lee were to have charge of the conduct of the war. The plan was laid bare by an unforeseen incident. Immediately thereafter Con- way tendered the resignation of his office to Congress, which, unexpectedly to him, was promptly accepted. Shortly after he was shot in a duel by General Cadwallader. Supposing himself to be mortally wounded, he wrote a con- trite letter to Washington, confessing all. He recovered and returned to France.
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When Steuben arrived at Valley Forge he was 48 years old. He was of exceptional dignity and princely bearing. He possessed a fascination for tbe half frozen, discontended and almost revolting army. His arrival at Valley Forge at this timely juncture was the one signal advantage that told in all the future military operations of the war. Here he found everything in con- fusion. There was privation and suffering on all sides; it was the very culmination of the mismanagement of the Revolution. To the observer it exhibited the melancholy spectacle of a ludicrously ill-fed, ill-clothed soldiery. The companies were poorly organized; there was waste and loss everywhere. The arms were out of order, and in the General's own words, "the men were literally naked; some of them in the fullest extent of the word. The officers who had coats, had them of every color and make. I saw officers at a grand parade at Valley Forge mounting guard in a sort of dressing gown made of an old blanket or woolen bed cover." Steuben's experienced eye saw be- neath the tattered clothing and worn and emaciated frames of the men the material for excellent soldiers. Gladly taking upon himself the drudgery and labor of drillmaster of the army, he introduced the Prussian system of minor tactics, and beginning on a small scale, for there was no such thing as military discipline, in drill and evolution, and entered upon his work with hope and vigor. The officers were trained and drilled as well as the men. He ap- pointed his sub-inspectors of brigades and divisions, and formed a select military school of one hundred and twenty men and officers from the line, which he trained in person with practical zeal, taking upon himself the humblest duties of a drill-sergeant; he marched with the men, often took musket in hand to show the manual exercises which he wished to introduce. Says he: "We marched and wheeled together, and in a fortnight my com- pany knew well how to bear arms, had a military air, knew how to march, to form in column, deploy and to execute some little maneuvers with ex- cellent precision." He gradually brought the whole army to an admirable condition of drill and discipline. This was rapid work and could not have been accomplished without the enthusiasm generated by the prestige of a Prussian general officer. (The sight of the inspector general of Frederick the Great hastening from his bed before daylight to the wintry parade, must have been an edifying and inspiring spectacle.) The soldiers were quick enough to see that this new inspector general, unlike the man for whom the office had been created-Conway-put his heart into his work, and was moved by no personal ambition, but by a deep interest in the struggle for which they were suffering so much, and sincere desire to fit them to achieve success. His very roughness of manner and quickness of temper were to them an evidence of his sincerity. The grim Prussian veteran appealed irresistibly without perceiving it, to the sensitive American humor, when baving exhausted his vocabulary of German oaths upon an awkward squad at drill (for he was ignorant of the English language; his German and French were of no avail) he would cry out to Walker, his aide, after losing his temper and swearing in all three languages at once: "Come and swear for me in English; these fellows will not do what I bid them." When on subsequent battle fields these men maneuvered with the precision and coolness of a grand parade, simply because they were a part of a great machine whose effectiveness depended upon the method of its movement and the adaptation of a part of the whole, then they blessed General Steuben and the way he hammered tactics into them with his big, strange, polyglot oaths. In other respects his military knowledge was of immense value in various ways, and of all the European officers who sought service under the new republic, he did more than any other in aid of its complete establishment. Washington found him a most in- telligent and consummate officer. His generous impulses and his personal magnetism made him a favorite with the men.
At Valley Forge the soldiers made the best of their sufferings and mis- fortunes. The genial Duponceau informs us in an anecdote of an entertain- ment of officers who were only to be admitted on condition that no one should appear in an entire pair of breeches; there was no exclusiveness to the rule; the tatterdemalion guests assembled, clubbing their rations. Says the sec- retary, now a captain: "We feasted sumptuously on tough beef-steak and po- tatoes, with hickory nuts for desert; instead of wine, we had some kind of spirits with which we made 'salamander' in this way: After filling our drinking cups we set the liquor on fire and drank it flame and all. This was truly 'hot stuff.' Such a set of ragged and, with all, merry fellows, were
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never brought together. Steuben loved to speak of that banquet and his 'Sans-Culottes' as he called them."
It should be remembered, as I have before observed, that Steuben was ignorant of the language of his troops; his orders had to be transferred through an interpreter; the first parade was thrown into confusion from this cause. A captain of a New York regiment, Benjamin Walker, a young man of education versed in German and French, stepped forward and offered his services. The General hailed him, in his own expression, as one sent from heaven, made him his aide, retained him during the war as his right- hand man, and subsequently employed him in the management of his prop- erty, and perpetuated his kindness after death by giving him one-half of his estate. The stout old German general's correspondence owes much of its felicity to the pen of his secretary, Walker.
Steuben had but a short time to prepare for the coming campaign; he made the most of it by sacrificing the eternal manual exercise and leaping at once to the maneuver of the field; they were ready for an evolution when they might have made but a poor show at a drill parade.
Another month brought the evacuation by the British of the city of Philadelphia. The camp of Valley Forge was broken up; the army followed the retreating enemy who was making its way across New Jersey to the city of New York. On the 28th of June occurred the battle of Monmouth Court House, brouglit on by Washington with the concurrent advice of Steuben and other officers but in opposition to the remonstrances of General Charles Lee. Here Steuben commanded on the left wing of the first line and rendered good service, the general efficiency of the troops in the skill with which their dis- positions were made, proved the excellency of the drill and instruction at Valley Forge.
In the subsequent court martial of General Lee for his extraordinary conduct in the retreat at the beginning of the day and his disrespectful letter to Washington, the testimony given by General Steuben was distasteful to the eccentric Lee, who made some reflections on the "Baron" in his defense. The old soldier had no disposition to endure the "Epigrams" of Lee, and sent him on the instant a most stringent challenge by the hand of his sec- retary, Walker, as Lee had spoken of him as a "distant spectator" of the recent engagement; Stenben conched his message in retaliatory emphasis: "You will choose the place, time and arms, but as I do not like to be a distant or slow spectator, I desire to see you as near and as soon as possible." The vain and cowardly Lee had no desire for such close quarters with the infuriated "Baron," expostulated against any ill intention in his remarks, made suitable apologies, and the affair ended.
Steuben accompanied the army to its headquarters at White Plains and Fishkill, continuing his constant drill and inspection, the effect of his work was apparent to the British General Clinton who remarked that the drill of the old German rascal had made the rebels superior to the English. In the carly part of 1779, Steuben prepared the manual of military drill and tac- tics, entitled "Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States." After some delay and vexation the little volume was adopted by Congress and ordered printed; it did excellent service during the war of the Revolution and the second war of the United States with England, it was retained in use, and was a popular manual long after the close of the latter war. There are still men living who first learned the manual of arms from this work.
General Steuben employed the two following years in the discharge of his duties as inspector in the various camps of the soldiers, and in the general revision and improvement of the service, worked hard in the actual inspection of the troops, endearing himself to the men as well by his exaction of duty and his good natured but determined solicitude for their welfare.
His discipline extended to their comforts, he examined the doctor's re- ports, visited the sick and wounded, saw that they were well lodged, nursed and attended; inspected the quality and sufficiency of their food and clothing, and inquired after their treatment hy the officers, not infrequently sharing his last dollar with those who were in want and suffering.
In June, 1779, Steuben established his headquarters at the Verplanck mansion, standing amid lawns and gardens, a short distance from the village of Fishkill, with patches of primeval forest on either side, overlooked the Hud- son, some half mile from the water's edge. It is now a historic, romantic and beautiful spot; the interior of the house has the same arrangement and furni-
,
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ture as then. Washington's headquarters were then at Newburgh, on the opposite bank of the river; he was frequently at Fishkill and at the head- quarters of his inspector general, and with him reviewed the various sections of the army.
The remarkable degree of adroitness to which both officers and soldiers had attained in their evolutions was gratifying. The silence maintained dur- ing the performance of their maneuvers astonished experienced French and Spanish military men who were present on several of these occasions. "I don't know from whence noise should some; even my brigadiers dare not open their mouths but to repeat the orders," exclaimed Steuben, in reply to certain admiring comments made by the distinguished visitors. Every man, every horse, knew his place. Such was the perfection of drill in the regulations that the whole army, occupying an extent of several miles, could be put in mo- tion and take up the line of march in less than an hour.
He was called to sit as a member of the board of general officers for the trial of Major Andre. In common with all pure ingenuous minds he de- plored the fatal necessity which brought that ill-fated officer to execution. For Arnold he had the most unqualified contempt, an instance of this re- pugnance occurred shortly after and while the treason was still fresh in mind; one day at roll call he heard the name of Jonathan Arnold, summoning the man from the ranks, and looking him over, said, come to my quarters; upon arriving he told him in his rough humorous way, you are too much of a man to bear that odious name, and asked him to change it. "For what name shall I change it to?" "Any you please; take mine if you can't do better." The suggestion was received in the spirit it was given, and Jonathan Arnold was thence forth on the roll Jonathan Steuben. After the war he had the change legalized by the legislature of the state. He married, named his first son after General Steuben; the event was communicated to the General, who gave the child a farm; this child ended his days in the service of his country as a soldier in her armies in the war of 1812; to this day descendants of this man are living in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania.
Steuben was sent to Virginia to co-operate with General Greene in his southern campaign. He opposed Arnold in his invasion of Virginia so suc- cessfully that with a much inferior force he compelled him to retire to the protection of the British fleet, and was saved from a well planned enterprise for his capture.
After Cornwallis was, by the combined efforts of Greene, LaFayette and Steuben, forced to fall back upon and fortify himself at Yorktown the British were at last in the toils. Steuben hailed the event with joy and prophetic enthusiasm; writing to General Greene a fortnight before the siege com- menced, he says, "Everything is preparing for our grand enterprise, fortune seems to have seconded our endeavors; this is the decisive opportunity; it is the happiest time I have spent in America." Steuben was assigned to the second parallel; his foreign experience now served him in the novel American operations of a siege. It was during his guard that the capitulation was made by Cornwallis. He was present at the surrender and stoutly insisted and maintained that Washington should receive no other sword upon the occa- sion than that of Lord Cornwallis, so that the sword of General O'Harra, the second in command of the British, was delivered to General Lincoln, the second in command of the American army.
After this culminating event Steuben was variously employed in his duties as inspector general. It is melancholy to read that on his various journeys in the line of his duty he was confronted with absolute pecuniary need. It is the old story of the inefficiency of congress or the states, which that body then so imperfectly represented. In providing for the public wel- fare the deficiency pressed heavily upon Steuben from the necessities of his constant journeyings; his liberal disposition, too, made generosity indispensa- ble. After the close of the war he was charged with the disbanding of the military posts south of New York.
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