February 23rd: Today in 1778 Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge to train the continental army in a new drill manual to fight the British Army. His introduction of Prussian style drill and organization provided a huge morale boost to the army the army came out of winter camp better prepared to fight. There is a chance that the Baron even explained to George Washington what a flank was, as he seemed to pay more attention to them from this winter on.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 23rd, 2006 at 4:30 am and is filed under History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.