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From George Washington to Hans Alexander Siegfried von Steuben, 3 March 1797

To Hans Alexander Siegfried von Steuben

Philadelphia March 3rd 1797.

sir,

I received your letter dated the 1st of September last, inquiring for the fortune of your deceased Brother, Baron Steuben.1 A former application from some relation of the Baron led me to inquire how he disposed of his estate, and I found that the payment of debts and claims would absorb the greater part, and that the residue was given to some particular friends to whom he was attached, and who had been attached to him; especially during his service in the army of the United States. And it was even doubtful whether any thing would remain after his debts were paid.2

To supercede any further inquiries of the kind, perhaps I ought to add, That although the pay and emoluments of the Baron from the United States were liberal, and supported him several years after the close of the american war, yet possessed of a generous heart and accustomed to an expensive mode of living, he felt some embarrassments, until in the year 1790 Congress granted him a pension of 2,500 Dollars a year.3 From this he could make no saving; and whatever Estate he left behind him resulted from the bounty of particular States in grateful acknowledgment for the services he had rendered to the United States during the American War.4 I have the honor to be, with much respect sir Your obedient servant

Df (letterpress copy), DLC:GW. The internal address, written at the bottom of the draft reads: “To Mr de Steuben (brother of the late Baron [Friedrich Wilhelm] de Steuben who served the United States in the american war) at Treptow [Treptow am Rega, Germany, now Poland] on the Baltic in Pommerania.”

1Steuben’s letter to GW, written from “Treptow on the Baltic in Pomerania” on 1 Sept. 1796, reads:“Your Excellency will be graciously pleased to permit me to wait upon you with this letter.

“It is more than a year since I saw in a gazette of Berlin the account of the death of my only and dearly beloved brother: God knows how much I was affected by this afflicting intelligence.

“In the mean time, however much I should have been gratified by a continuance of his life, if it had depended upon me, notwithstanding any advantages which may fall to my lot through his decease; yet since it has pleased providence to take him from this world, it is a duty inculcated by my interest, in the needy circumstances in which I find myself, to enquire whether before his death he made any provision for me as his only brother living, in the will which I presume he left.

“Shall I venture humbly to request from your Excellency intelligence on this subject.

“My heart informs me, and the acknowledged goodness of your Excellency induces me to hope, that my humble request will not be fruitless. On account of the dangers of the sea, I have written by duplicate, the better to insure a safe conveyance, for which your Excellency will be pleased to pardon me” (ALS, DLC:GW). Steuben’s brother, Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a former major general in the Continental army, had died on 28 Nov. 1794.

2Baron Alexander Maximilian Friedrich von Bouvinghausen von Wallmerode, a friend of Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, had written GW a letter of 10 June 1795 to solicit his help in securing the debt owed him by Steuben’s will. The will bequeathed to Bouvinghausen a snuff box and a legacy for each of his sons. When GW and Secretary of State Timothy Pickering inquired into the matter, it was discovered that the value of Steuben’s estate would mostly go toward the settlement of his debts (see GW to Bouvinghausen, 18 Nov. 1795).

3In 1784, Congress had voted to advance $10,000 to Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. A final settlement, however, was not reached until 4 June 1790, when Congress passed “An Act for finally adjusting and satisfying the claims of Frederick William de Steuben.” That act awarded Steuben an annuity of $2,500 “during life … to be paid in quarterly” installments (6 Stat. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 2; see also GW to Thomas Jefferson, 15 March 1784, and n.1 to that document, in Papers, Confederation Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1992–97. description ends 1:214–15; and Steuben to GW, 25 Aug. 1789, and n.1 to that document).

4Various states had given land grants to Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben in reward for his military service during the Revolutionary War. For example, the state of Virginia awarded Steuben 15,000 acres in 1783 (see Brumbaugh, Revolutionary War Records description begins Gaius Marcus Brumbaugh. Revolutionary War Records: Volume I, Virginia: Virginia Army and Navy Forces with Bounty Land Warrants for Virginia Military District of Ohio, and Virginia Military Scrip; from Federal and State Archives. Baltimore, 1967. description ends , 1:115). On 23 Dec. 1783, the New Jersey legislature passed an act to “appropriate” a “forfeited” estate in Bergen County, N.J., “to the Use of Major-General Baron Steuben, during his Life.” The purpose of the law was “to testify to the World the grateful Sense they entertain” of Steuben’s services during the war (N.J. Acts, 27 Aug. 1776–24 Dec. 1783 description begins Acts of the Council and General Assembly of the State of New-Jersey, from the Establishment of the present Government … to the End of the First Sitting of the eighth Session, on the 24th Day of December 1783. … Trenton, 1784. description ends , 381). Steuben lived out the remainder of his life in New York, where he died.

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