By Alfred Acenas
Eagle News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Eagle News) – Located inside a classroom of Humphreys Hall at Fort Belvoir, Virginia is a document known as the Blue Book, which the Americans used in training soldiers in their fight for independence.

At the beginning of the Revolution, there was little standardization or guidance for the duties and responsibilities of George Washington’s all-volunteer citizen soldiers.

The Continental Army back then lacked strong central command and was made up of state-run militias. More often than not, they operated independently of each other, and were subject to the rules and regulations of their respective state governments.

In 1777, a Prussian officer named Friedrich Von Steuben volunteered to help Washington train troops and establish the identity of the American Army as a coordinated fighting force.

In 1778, Von Steuben met Washington for the first time at the winter camp in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Washington was instantly impressed with the Prussian’s military bearing and forceful personality.

By mid-March 1779, the 48-year old personally started training a 100-man guard company in the basics of soldiering. Despite the arduous process of translating his instructions from German to French to English, Von Steuben proved his ability as a drill master through his exceptional tact and experience. As a result, Washington appointed him as Inspector General of the Army.

Later that same year, Von Steuben’s publication, “Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States,” was ready to be printed. However, due to the scarcity of paper materials during the war, the publisher decided to bind the book with blue paper that was readily available, thus the nickname Blue Book.

In March 1779, Congress endorsed the said publication and ordered it to be used throughout the Army.

In 1792, Washington pushed through the passage of the Uniformed Militia Act, which included the use of Von Steuben’s regulations that established guidelines on personnel management that replaced the British model of class and social pedigree.

Moreover, Von Steuben melded all the ranks into a unified force, founded on an inflexible but even-handed chain of command.

Through the course of the Revolutionary War, Von Steuben continually simplified his writings, putting in plain language what needed to be learned and how to teach it. In a relatively few years, the U.S. Army’s order and discipline nearly matched those of the European armies of the time.

Presently under the care of the Army’s Inspector General School, one of the last copies of the Blue Book is preserved in a glass case and is on display only during special occasions.

(Eagle News Service)