8 LGBT Service Members Who Shaped American History

From: Gay Pop Buzz

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Baron Frederick von Steuben

Baron von Steuben was a Prussian and American Military officer and served as inspector general and major general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

He also served as General George Washington’s chief of staff in the final years of the war. Steuben picked 120 men from various regiments, to form an honor guard for General Washington, and used them to demonstrate military training to the rest of the troops.

In colonial times, he was described with terms like “flamboyant” and “eccentric”. Translation: a polite way of saying gay.

Steuben became an American citizen by act of the Pennsylvania legislature in March 1784. With the war over, Steuben resigned from service and settled with his longtime companion, William North, for whom he created a special room at his retreat he called The Louvre.

Without this man’s keen military insight, which Washington heavily relied upon, many of the battles towards the end of the Revolutionary war may not have been won.