Major General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben statue (Washington, D.C.)

 monument, American Revolutionary War 1775-1783, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, 1910_construction

This memorial portrays Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (1730-1794) as he inspected American troops at the great maneuvers of 1778 during the American Revolution. His experiences as a General staff member in the Prussian army gave him a wealth of knowledge unheard of in the British and French armies of the period. This training eventually brought to the American soldiers the technical knowledge necessary to create an army. During the winter of 1778-79, von Steuben prepared the "Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States." He also established a standard of sanitation and camp layouts that would remain a standard a century and a half later. Today he is known as the "Father of Military Instruction."

The statue, erected on the northwest corner of Lafayette Park in 1910, is cast from bronze from a sculpture by Albert Jaegers, shows von Steuben wearing the uniform of a major general of the Continental army, heavily cloaked against the rigors of the winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

After his discharge from the army on March 24, 1784, he became an American citizen and was granted sixteen thousand acres of land by the state of New York. Today, this land, including the town of Steubenville, is located in central New York.

The statue is part of the American Revolution Statuary collection that is collectively listed on the National Register of Historic Places.