Friedrich Von Steuben: Father of the U.S. military

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/10/19/friedrich-von-steuben-father-of-the-u-s-military/

National Gay History Project

There are few historians today who would doubt that Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Von Steuben was gay.

To appreciate the contributions von Steuben (1730-94) made to the American Revolution, consider this: Before his arrival in Valley Forge in 1778, the Revolutionary Army had lost several battles to Great Britain and, without him, the United States of America might still be the British colonies.

Before Valley Forge, the Revolutionary Army was a loosely organized, rag-tag band of men with little military training. The military fumbled through the beginning of the war for independence lacking training and organization. Gen. George Washington and the Continental Congress knew that without help from additional seasoned military experts, the colonies would clearly lose. Since Washington himself was the best the colonies had, they looked to Europe for someone who could train the troops. To that end, Washington wrote the colonies’ representative in Paris, Benjamin Franklin, to see what he could come up with. Franklin, a renowned inventor, was treated as a celebrity in the French court. This would be pivotal in achieving his two major objectives in France: winning financial support for the revolution and finding military leaders who could bring a semblance of order to the Revolutionary Army.

Franklin learned of a “brilliant” Prussian military genius, Lt. Gen. Baron Frederich von Steuben. Von Steuben had a string of successes (some self-embellished) with the Prussian army. There was one problem. He’d been asked to depart because of his “affections for members of his own sex.” This became urgent in 1777 when he literally escaped imprisonment in what is now Germany and traveled to Paris. In Paris, Franklin was interviewing candidates to assist Washington back in the colonies when he discovered von Steuben.

...because of intolerance at home.

to the extent that being the first to discover the nuke bomb won us that war, it was due to Germany expelling so many Jewish scientists.

A classic example of how ideology destroys itself
by ignoring facts because the facts don't conform to
their wishful thinking.

Let's not forget Alan Turing who broke the Enigma Machine code, thus allowing the Allies to listen in on Axis communications. He is the father of all modern computing.

He was also gay. He was a hero for breaking the Enigma code until it was discovered that he was homosexual. Instead of celebrating his contribution to winning WW2, he was prosecuted for being gay. Like "gee, thanks for giving us the edge to defeat the Nazi onslaught (without which the war would likely be lost), but since you're gay you can't be a human being." :grr:

This list (for the greatest part) gives me a good deal of pride.

I never knew that Von Steuben was gay.

This really got me wondering how much of a better world this would be if so many of us had not been dismissed out of hand in critical situations throughout history, just because we were LGBT.

It is a testament to Franklin's wisdom and awareness that he recognized Von Steuben's equality, brilliance, and value at a time in American history when gays were universally subject to the death penalty.

Recommend.

Thanks.

In this case U.S. History needs to be rewritten so when taught in school this is not hidden. The more that is taught about our History including homosexuality the better off everyone is.

Recommended.

We might still be singing "God Save the King" (or Queen)". On the other hand we might be closer to marriage equality.