Gay Revolutionary War General Topic of Valley Forge Park Talk 7/8

VALLEY FORGE, PA — In Valley Forge National Historical Park stands a statue of Baron Friedrich von Steuben, which was erected on the site back in 1915 by the National German American Alliance.

The statue honors a Prussian-born American Revolutionary War General who served during a time where the United States was rife with anti-German sentiment.

While von Steuben for years may have been recognizable for that very reason, he has also been embraced in recent time by members of the LGBTQ community for a different aspect of his identity – his being openly gay during a time when sexuality was not discussed.

Tonight, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., the park will host a virtual event titled “The Lives of Monuments: General von Steuben and LGBTQ+ History in Monuments,” which will feature a discussion between Howard University’s Thomas A. Foster and Valley Forge Park Guide David J. Lawrence.

The two will discuss the “changing audiences of the General von Steuben Statue, how contemporary communities’ desire for identification should be reflected in interpretation, and LGBTQ+ history in the Early Republic,” according to a park news release.

According to his bio on Howard University’s website, Foster serves as associate dean for faculty affairs and social sciences as well as LGBTQ affairs, in the College of Art & Sciences.

Tonight’s event is the final installment of a five-part webinar series the national park has been hosting titled “The Lives of Monuments: Memory, Revolution and Our National Parks.”

The series had been organized by Dr. Emma Silverman, who is a National Park Service Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow.

During the presentation, attendees will get to learn about the “gay man who saved the American Revolution,” the Park Service’s press release states.

According to an article on History.com, von Steuben had been hired by General George Washington to “whip the Continental Army into shape during the darkest days of the Revolutionary War.”

The article states that historians believe he was an openly gay man during a time when sex between men was a punishable crime.

The History article quoted Smithsonian writer Erick Trickey, who has stated that while few Americans today are familiar with von Steuben, every U.S. soldier is indebted to the Revolutionary War general because he “created America’s professional army.”

The History article states that, “Von Steuben may have been one of early America’s most open LGBT figures, but he was hardly the only man whose love of other men was well known. And though he was to have helped save the American army, his contribution is largely forgotten today.”

To register for the webinar, please visit this link.