Tuckahoe NY Pride

Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben was a Prussian-born soldier who became a pivotal trainer of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Recruited in 1777 and endorsed by George Washington, he served as Inspector General, drilling troops at Valley Forge and standardizing tactics, camp layout, and discipline. His “Blue Book” regulations shaped U.S. Army practice for decades, earning him recognition as a key architect of its professionalization. Some historians believe that he was gay, citing a lifetime of rumors and a series of “extraordinarily intense emotional relationships” with men; he never married. Von Stueben formally adopted two younger men — a strategy used by gay men of his era to establish a legal relationship to heirs in lieu of marriage.

From Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States:
There is nothing which gains an officer the love of his soldier more than his care of them under the distress of sickness; it is then he has the power of exerting his humanity, in providing them every comfortable necessary, and making their situation as agreeable as possible.