THOMAS CONWAY.
Thomas Conway, born in Ireland on the 27th of February, 1733, was taken by his parents to France when he was but six years of age. Educated in that country, he entered her army, and in 1777 had attained the rank of colonel and the decoration of the Order of St. Louis. Seeing in the American Revolution a chance of rapid promotion, he sought an interview with Silas Deane, and came to this country with his promise that he should be appointed to a high rank in the Continental army. Congress redeemed this promise on the 13th of May, 1777, by giving him the commission of a brigadier-general and assigning to him a command in Lord Stirling’s division. After taking part in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, he urged his friends in Congress to obtain promotion for him. Washington, divining his true character, and believing that his real motive in coming to America was self-aggrandizement rather than a devotion to the sacred cause of liberty, opposed his advancement as an injustice to more deserving officers.
Selfish, unscrupulous, and delighting in mischief, Conway was busily plotting against Washington; and being upheld by Gates, Mifflin, Dr. Rush, and others, he sought to displace him and elevate Gates to the position of commander-in-chief. This intrigue, known as the “Conway cabal,”[3] coming to the knowledge of Washington, he informed Conway of the discovery of the plot, whereupon the latter tendered his resignation. Congress, however, though fully cognizant of the charges against him, did not accept it, but on the contrary gave him his coveted promotion, advancing him to the rank of major-general on the 13th of December, 1777. Restless and ever dissatisfied, on the 28th of April, 1778, he wrote to Congress complaining of the post assigned him, and conditionally tendering his resignation; but the tide of favor had already turned, and Congress at once accepted his resignation unconditionally, thus forcing him to quit the army. During the following summer his caustic speech made him many enemies, and in a duel with General Cadwalader, growing out of some disparaging remarks of Conway concerning Washington, Conway was shot through the mouth, the bullet coming out of the back of his neck. He fell upon his face, but raising himself, said, “General, you fire with much deliberation and certainly with a great deal of effect.” Believing the wound mortal, a few days afterward Conway wrote an humble apology to Washington, retracting all he had ever said against the commander-in-chief. Contrary to his own and his surgeon’s supposition, however, he recovered; but meeting with a cold reception from his former friends, he soon after returned to France, re-entered the military service, and was appointed Governor of Pondicherry and the French settlements in Hindostan. His quarrelsome disposition involved him in a dispute with Tippoo Sahib which is said to have ruined French prospects in India. In 1792, he was sent to take command of the Royalist army in the south of France, but during the revolution which followed he was obliged to flee the country, and died about the year 1800.
[3] Conway cabal,—“A conspiracy to deprive Washington of the command of the army.”
BARON STEUBEN.
Frederick William Augustus Henry Ferdinand von Steuben, known in this country as Baron Steuben, was born in Magdeburg, Prussia, on the 15th of November, 1730. The son of a soldier, his earliest recollections were of the camp. At the age of ten years, returning with his father from a campaign in the Crimea, he was placed in the Jesuit College at Neisse, and later transferred to that at Breslau, distinguishing himself at both as a mathematician. When but fourteen, he served with his father in the war of 1744, and was present at the siege of Prague. At seventeen, as a cadet, he entered a regiment of infantry, rose in two years to be ensign, and in four more to be lieutenant. As aide-de-camp to Frederick the Great of Prussia, he served in the Seven Years War, taking part in the celebrated battle of Prague. At the restoration of peace in 1763, he resigned his post in the army and was appointed to a position at court, commanding a liberal salary. In 1777, learning that the greatest weakness of the Americans lay in their ignorance of military tactics and want of thorough discipline, he left his life of ease in the Old World, and coming to the New, presented himself to Congress as a volunteer. If the cause were lost, they owed him nothing; if gained, he would expect remuneration equivalent to the salary he had resigned. His offer being accepted, he went to Valley Forge and began his great work, whereby our whole military system assumed new shape. On the 5th of May, 1778, Congress appointed him inspector-general of the army, with the rank of major-general, and no officer of that grade in the field did so much toward our ultimate success as did this born organizer and disciplinarian. The following year, he wished to take the field; but the American officers expressed so much dissatisfaction, on account of being outranked, that he withdrew his request and devoted himself to his old work, which to him must have seemed little better than that of a drill-sergeant. In 1780, he published a manual for the army that was of great value, and is still considered an authority. Written in German, it was translated into French, then into English, in which language it was wholly unintelligible to him. Warm-hearted and hospitable, he shared his last dollar with his suffering brother officers, and even at one time sold his horse that he might have the means of entertaining his camp guests. With a chivalrous regard for truth and honor, he despised the very name of Arnold. At review one day he heard the name of “Benedict Arnold” called over with those of some new recruits. Regarding its owner keenly for a few moments, and being pleased with his manly bearing, the baron said, “Young man, you must change your name; you are too respectable to bear the name of a traitor!” “What name shall I take, General?” “Take any other; mine is at your service.” Adopting the name of Steuben, the young man received a christening present of a monthly allowance, and eventually a large tract of land.
After the defeat of Gates, Baron Steuben was sent to Virginia to help General Greene, and when Arnold entered that State in the pay of the British, the baron used every endeavor to capture the traitor and bring him to justice. Serving actively at the siege of Yorktown, he was in command of the trenches when Cornwallis was summoned to surrender. Lafayette offered to relieve the baron; but he replied that European etiquette required him to remain at his post until the terms of the surrender were accepted or hostilities resumed. When the English flag was lowered to its American conquerors, Steuben’s men had the proud satisfaction of being foremost of those on duty. At the close of the war, he was sent to Canada to demand the surrender of all the posts along the frontier, but being unsuccessful in this mission, returned to headquarters. Upon the disbanding of the army, he retired to private life, resided in New York City for several years, while waiting for Congress to redeem its promise to pay him for his arduous and self-sacrificing services. In the mean time Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New Jersey voted him grants of land; but that from the last-named State he declined, because it had been the confiscated estate of a Tory who would be left destitute. New York now voted him a township near Utica, and Congress after an ungracious delay of seven years voted him a pension of $2,400 per annum. Retiring to his New York estate, he cleared sixty acres, built a log house, and spent the remainder of his life in dispensing a large-hearted hospitality, in agricultural pursuits, and the enjoyment of his valuable library. Once a year he visited New York City, but in 1795, while preparing for this annual trip, he was stricken with paralysis, and died on the 25th of November. By his own direction he was wrapped in his military cloak, and on his breast was placed the diamond star of the Order of Fidelity, which he had received from the Prince Margrave of Bavaria, and which he always wore. His funeral was attended by his neighbors, and was without pomp or military display of any kind. Colonel North, his favorite aid, inherited his property and erected a small monument to his memory.