Group Congratulates Writer and Legislator On Valley Forge Feat
By JOHN F. MORRISON
Of The Bulletin Staff
Gen. Wilhelm Frederick von Steuben, the Prussian who shaped George Washington's band of farmers into a disciplined army in the Revolutionary War, has found a home at last at Valley Forge.
On April 23, the Valley Forge Park Commission will officially dedicate "Von Steuben's Quarters," a handsome stone house recently restored with a $71,000 grant from the General State Authority. The house is located in the western end of the park.
Two Men Honored
Getting, the kind of recognition for the building was not easy, however, and last might the Philadelphia Chapter of the Steuben Society of America honored two men instrumental in accomplishing the task.
The chapter presented citations to Edward Pinkowski, writer and historian of 127 N. 20th st., and State Rep. John Pezak (D-Phila) at its annual banquet in the Philadelphia Rifle Club, 8th st. and Tabor road.
Pinkowski, author of "Washington's Officers Slept Here" and other historical volumes, had been trying for some time to pin down the places where the Prussian general had his headquarters during the bitter winter encampment of 1777-78.
Tried To Save Tavern
Pinkowski tried without success to get the Park Commission to save Slab Tavern, which had been allowed to fall into ruin but which the historian claimed had been used by Von Steuben early in the encampment.
The commission claimed the ruin was an eyesore and down it came last February. Pinkowski then discovered in a Delaware museum a journal kept by Steuben's French aide-de-camp, Capt. Peter S. Duponceau.
The journal disclosed that Von Steuben and his staff on April 20, 1778, were assigned to a large stone house built some years before by a millwright named James White for himself and his bride. It is this house the Park Commission will dedicate as the general's headquarters. But at the time of Pinkowski's discovery, the commission was referring to it as the "Camp hospital."
Panel of Experts CalledÂ
Pinkowski enlisted the support of Pezak at that point. Last May 25, Pezak introduced a, resolution in the General Assembly to designate the historic landmark as Von Steuben's quarters.
To bolster their case, Pinkowski and Pezak called in a 'panel of experts to assess the evidence.
The experts were Dale Fields, executive director of the Historical Society of Delaware; Judge E. LeRoy van Roden, of the Delaware County Orphans Court; Dr. Austin J. App, of LaSalle College; Dr. Arthur James, president of the Chester County Historical Society, and the late David Taylor, historian of Freedoms Foundation, Valley Forge.
The experts agreed with Pinkowski and submitted their report to the Legislature and the Valley Forge Park Commission. Shortly thereafter, Dr. S. K. Stevens, executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, asked the park board to designate the house as von Steuben's quarters.
On Sept. 26, the commission agreed to do so.
During last night's dinner meeting, Karl Schumacher, head of the Steuben Society's historic sites committee, disclosed plans to import furniture of the Colonial period from German castles to furnish the building. |