<Tr> <Th> Awards </Th> <Td> Cross of the Order of De la Fidelite </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Signature </Th> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <P> Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand Steuben (born Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben; September 17, 1730--November 28, 1794), also referred to as the Baron von Steuben, was a Prussian and later an American military officer . He served as inspector general and major general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War . He is credited with being one of the fathers of the Continental Army in teaching them the essentials of military drills, tactics, and disciplines . He wrote Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, the book that served as standard United States drill manual until the American Civil War . He served as General George Washington's chief of staff in the final years of the war . </P> <P> Baron von Steuben was born in the fortress town of Magdeburg on September 17, 1730, the son of Royal Prussian Engineer, Capt . Baron Wilhelm von Steuben, and his wife, Elizabeth von Jagvodin . When his father entered the service of Empress Anna, young Friedrich came with him to the Crimea and then to Kronstadt, staying until the Russian war against the Turks under the General Burkhard Christoph von Münnich . In 1740 Steuben's father returned to Prussia and Friedrich was educated in the garrison towns Neisse and Breslau by Jesuits . It is said that at age 14 he served as volunteer with his father in one of the campaigns of the War of the Austrian Succession . </P>

Who was the prussian veteran that trained american troops at valley forge