![]() Over the next two years, his drill methods helped transform the Patriot forces into an accomplished fighting force. The Baron’s successes saw him appointed inspector general of the Continental Army in May 1778. Upon arriving at George Washington’s winter encampment at Valley Forge, he introduced new sanitation measures and gave the troops a crash course in 18th-century military tactics that included bayonet combat and more effective techniques for firing and reloading muskets. Though prone to exaggeration-he wore flashy uniforms and styled himself a lieutenant general even though he had never risen above the rank of captain-he also possessed a keen military mind. The Baron was a former Prussian military officer who had once served on the staff of Frederick the Great. That started to change in early 1778, when the extravagantly named Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin, the Baron von Steuben, arrived to assist the patriots. During the early stages of the revolution, the Continental Army had a reputation for being disorganized, undisciplined and poorly drilled. ![]()
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