General von Steuben instructing American soldiers at Valley Forge, 1778

Von Steuben was much-beloved by the troops - in part because he was a big, imposing, proper military fellow who swept in to teach them how to fight a real war at the Continental Army's darkest hour, and in part because he made a great effort to understand and communicate with the American enlisted men. But also because he, a German fresh from Europe, spoke some French but no English, but very quickly made it a priority to add English profanity to his vocabulary so he could curse in three languages. Soldiery never changes, it seems!

The lively and rough Von Steuben would continue drilling American forces for the rest of the war, writing the first and longest-lasting US military manual, establishing traditions of the US Army, and eventually retiring to a peaceful existence in the new US with his two (ahem) 'adopted sons'; both officers who he met during the Revolutionary War.