Explanation: The Father of the US Army, Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, was a gay man, about as openly as one could be in the 18th century. Ben Franklin helped him escape Europe on sodomy charges and puffed up his rank when introducing him to Congress - a damn good thing too, as von Steuben arrived in Valley Forge to find a tattered group of untrained militia, and turned them into a proper military force!
He spent a week writing the first (and longest-lasting) US Army drill manual, having it translated, and then promptly learned English profanity so he could curse at the troops he was training in three languages (already knowing German and French). The men loved him for it - soldiers dig that roughness in an officer! But he also made a great effort to understand and communicate with the enlisted men under his command, and was instrumental in creating a strong NCO corps and culture of NCO leadership. While Washington led the Continental Army to victory, it was von Steuben who made it into an ARMY!
After the war was over, he retired peacefully to a country estate in the US with his two ‘adopted sons’, both American officers he met during the Revolutionary War, and left most of his worldly possessions to them.
Explanation: The Father of the US Army, Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, was a gay man, about as openly as one could be in the 18th century. Ben Franklin helped him escape Europe on sodomy charges and puffed up his rank when introducing him to Congress - a damn good thing too, as von Steuben arrived in Valley Forge to find a tattered group of untrained militia, and turned them into a proper military force!
He spent a week writing the first (and longest-lasting) US Army drill manual, having it translated, and then promptly learned English profanity so he could curse at the troops he was training in three languages (already knowing German and French). The men loved him for it - soldiers dig that roughness in an officer! But he also made a great effort to understand and communicate with the enlisted men under his command, and was instrumental in creating a strong NCO corps and culture of NCO leadership. While Washington led the Continental Army to victory, it was von Steuben who made it into an ARMY!
After the war was over, he retired peacefully to a country estate in the US with his two ‘adopted sons’, both American officers he met during the Revolutionary War, and left most of his worldly possessions to them.
I have even greater respect for Benjamin Franklin now. Both hardcore Americans.