In 1902, Rep. Richard Bartholdt of Missouri introduced a bill in Congress for a monument of Baron von Steuben to honor his contributions to the winning of the American Revolution.

The bill was approved and Albert Jaegers, a German-American artist, set to work on creating a statue for Lafayette Park, which is located directly in front of the White House in Washington, D.C.

The statue was dedicated on 7 December 1910, with thousands in attendance, with the statue officially unveiled by Helen Taft, daughter of President Taft.

President Taft noted in his address: “When Baron von Steuben came to this country he found Germans who had preceded him, and who, like him, had elected to make this their permanent home” and that they were followed by millions of Germans immigrants since the Revolution who had played “so prominent a part in the great growth and development of this country.”

He also noted: “The Germans who have become American citizens and their descendants may well take pride in this occasion and in this work of art, modeled by the hand of an American of German descent, which commemorates the valued contribution made by a German soldier to the cause of American freedom at the time of its birth.”

In 1911, the U.S. presented a replica of the Steuben Monument to Germany and sent Rep. Bartholdt to Germany to represent the U.S. at its dedication in Potsdam. At the ceremony Kaiser Wilhelm II said: “Now we rejoice to have on German soil, too, a statue, dedicated by America, of that brave German who, with enthusiastic devotion and sublimely simple performance of duty, consecrated his services to the cause of the American people.”

Tentative plans are underway for the Steuben Society of America to sponsor a special celebration honoring the centennial of the Steuben Monument.

For those interested in learning more about Baron von Steuben, see the following book about him and the role he played in American history: The Army of the American Revolution and its Organizer: Rudolf Cronau’s Biography of Baron von Steuben, which was originally published in 1912, and edited for re-publication by yours truly.

For further information about this book, please click HERE

Yours truly,

Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzmann, Cincinnati

P.S. For information on the author’s latest book, German-Americana: Selected Essays, please click HERE