#baron von steuben
Honestly I will never get over the fact that Steuben rented a house in the country and invited his lover, his lovers lover, his lovers ex-lover and one other guy to live with him. Like was Smith the only guy in that house who hadn’t slept with North? I just want to know what the dynamic between these men were. Was Smith really straight? Were North and Fairlie on good terms? Was there gay drama or was it all just chill polyamory? Did they throw dinner parties in this country manor house in the middle of the woods? I just have questions.
#my WORD#YEAH#I have also always wondered this ‘cause I mean…#How much did Smith even Know??#Was he just like ‘yeah these are all my roommates they’re really really close like almost romantic type close but I’m sure it’s cool’#Or something??
Ok but he MUST have known! How could he live with four queer guys at least two of whom seem to have been involved with North at the time and not know. I think the question is more was he the token straight friend or was he queer? He wrote this to Steuben from Europe, which is interesting:
If may finances would justify my fixing, and I could continue to flatter myself that my society would be pleasing, you should never want a companion in amusement or a sincere friend to accompany you in retirement; but this can not be, unless I should write a sensible love letter and receive a favorable answer.
Honestly I will never get over the fact that Steuben rented a house in the country and invited his lover, his lovers lover, his lovers ex-lover and one other guy to live with him. Like was Smith the only guy in that house who hadn’t slept with North? I just want to know what the dynamic between these men were. Was Smith really straight? Were North and Fairlie on good terms? Was there gay drama or was it all just chill polyamory? Did they throw dinner parties in this country manor house in the middle of the woods? I just have questions.
I came across this while looking up the portrait thing and I think quite possibly these could’ve been the glasses that held the famed salamanders once upon a very cold evening in Valley Forge??
[Image Description: a book page with two black-and-white pictures stacked vertically. The top is of five glasses - one a small wine glass, and the others shot glasses, with decorative garlands painted on them. The bottom one is of a case with the lid removed, which stores the glasses, as well as six bottles of what I assume to be alcohol. The caption beneath reads “STEUBEN’S ARMY LIQUOR CASE AND GLASSES, in the possession of Mr. James Sweeney Thompson, of North Tonawanda, N.Y.”]
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Ok because @littlewritingrabbit got me thinking about it again, for comparison when Hamilton commissioned a portrait of himself for Eliza it was 4.4 x 3.5cm, the portrait Steuben gave North was 126.4 × 105.1cm.
Um… I sort of went a little overboard with the idea that the Baron sent this portrait to North, so here’s a ficlet. Enjoy!
A Picture Worth a Thousand Words
Mary Duane North was a patient woman. You had to be, she knew, to get anywhere in this world. She had seen her father’s patience and dedication to applying the law as a jurist and civil servant, and her mother, in turn, put up with her father’s long hours working on court cases and Congressional business utterly uncomplainingly. She admired, and attempted to emulate their examples in her roles as both a wife and the head of a farming household.
It was safe to say, then, that if something tested Mary Duane North’s patience, it must be a formidable something indeed.
The Baron von Steuben was one such something. She’d known him almost as long as she’d known her William, and the entire time he had been on the best of terms with her. He seemed to take the view that any friend of William’s was a friend of his, and thus needed no formality, because he’d certainly never been formal with her. He was prone to calling William away for evenings or parties or weekends, or sometimes even showing up, unannounced, and kissing everyone on the cheek in his distinctly Prussian fashion, her included. If he realized that William had responsibilities as a husband, she’d never seen him acknowledge it.
Thus she was glad, after he’d spent most of Friday evening through ‘till Saturday morning at the Baron’s house, to see William finally driving a cart up the drive to their house. The children were drawing pictures upstairs (she’d seen them sufficiently outfitted with paper and pencils after breakfast and was enjoying a well-earned moment of peace), and the chickens were pecking about in the yard, and now the final requirement for a full and proper household had arrived.
“Will!” she shouted at the figure in the cart, waving a hand.
“Hallo Polly!” he called back. Unlike with some of his more presumptuous friends, nicknames and informality were an endearing trait in William – they signified no rudeness, only cordiality.
A moment later and William was close enough for Polly to see that he carried a large object at his feet in the cart. Another and she could see that it was a large paper-wrapped package. He tugged on the reins with a soft “whoah there,” and the horses slowed to a stop.
“It’s good to see you!” she said, “How was your night?”
“It was lovely my dear,” he said, climbing out of the cart and tugging the package along with him. It appeared rather heavy. “We had dinner, a round of charades, and plenty of time to laugh about old misadventures from the army.”
“Oh good,” said Mary, “Though I am quite grateful that my Captain North is free from the army now,” she gave his hat a playful flick. He smiled. “What’ve you got here?” she asked, indicating the package.
“It is, apparently, a birthday present,” said William, “From the Baron himself. He wouldn’t let me open it until I arrived home, because he said he wanted me to be surprised.”
“Well,” said Mary, “It is surprisingly large.” She wondered where in the world they would have room for whatever large gift the Baron had so lavishly decided to give his former aide.
“Here,” said William, “I’ll put the horses into the stable and then we can open it.”
Mary pulled the large parcel into the drawing room and stood looking at it from several angles. It was large and flat, like a shield or a canvas. If it was to be mounted on a wall, as she feared it might, it would take up a lot of space.
Finally, she heard William kicking his boots off in the foyer and opening the door behind her. “Shall we investigate?” he asked.
“Certainly,” she said, thinking of the great virtue of patience and willing herself to have it.
William tore the wrapping from the gift, and they both stared at it in a moment of pure and complete awe.
It was a large portrait of the Baron von Steuben in full military dress, medallions gleaming on his lapels like stars brought to earth, one hand balanced steadily on the hilt of his sword, gazing majestically off into the distance.
“Good Lord,” said Polly. It was, quite possibly, the most grandiose thing they currently possessed.
There was another beat of stunned silence, and then –
“We can put it in my office… perhaps?” said William, voicing what they had both been thinking.
[Major General Friedrich Wilhelm Augustus, Baron von Steuben, c. 1786, oil on canvas, 49 ¾ × 41 3/8 in (126.4 × 105.1 cm), by Ralph Earl, via Yale University Art Gallery]
Steubengave this portrait to William North.
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“My dear Mamma there is something in this man that is more than mortal.”—Charles Adams about Baron von Steuben in a letter to Abigail Adams, 8 October 1792(viathelittlelionofvalleyforge)
“I hate everybody who is greater than myself, except you.”
