who trained the continental army at valley forge
Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben The Baron, his Italian greyhound, Azor (which he took with him everywhere), his young aide de camp Louis de PontiÃ¨re, his military secretary, Peter Stephen Du Ponceau (then called Pierre Etienne Du Ponceau), and two other companions, reached Portsmouth, New Hampshire on December 1, 1777, where they were almost arrested for being British because Steuben had mistakenly outfitted them in red uniforms.[4] They were extravagantly entertained in Boston.[citation needed] On February 5, 1778 Steuben and his party arrived in York, Pennsylvania, where the Continental Congress had relocated after being ousted from Philadelphia by the British advance. Arrangements were made for Steuben to be paid following the successful completion of the war according to his contributions. He arrived at Valley Forge on February 23, 1778, and reported for duty as a volunteer. One soldier's first impression of the Baron was "of the ancient fabled God of War ... he seemed to me a perfect personification of Mars. The trappings of his horse, the enormous holsters of his pistols, his large size, and his strikingly martial aspect, all seemed to favor the idea. He turned the volunteers into a great army"[4]