The Grand Parade, the broad open field near the centre of Valley Forge National Historical Park, is where Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben drilled the Continental Army in the spring of 1778. Steuben landed in America on 1 December 1777 and reached the camp on 23 February 1778. Washington made him temporary inspector general, and in March he formed a model company of about 120 men, drawn from the commander in chief's own guard and from the troops of each state. Steuben drilled them himself, breaking with the British practice of leaving drill to sergeants, and the army then learned the new drill in stages, first by squad, then by company, then by regiment. He spoke German and French but no English, so he wrote each lesson in French at night, only a few days ahead of the troops.
His secretary, Pierre Duponceau, translated them with help from John Laurens and Alexander Hamilton. He is said to have called to his secretary: "My dear Duponceau, come and swear for me in English, these fellows won't do what I bid them." In May 1778 Congress commissioned him inspector general with the rank of major general.
On 6 May 1778 the army assembled on the Grand Parade to celebrate the alliance with France. It fired a feu de joie, a musket salute passed down the ranks man by man, and the soldiers shouted "Long live the King of France!" Steuben's Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, approved by Congress in March 1779, stayed in use until 1814. His bronze statue by J. Otto Schweizer, a copy of one in Utica, New York, was unveiled in 1915 and has overlooked the field from its present site since 1979.
Getting there
40.1031, -75.4466
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