PRIDE MONTH 2024! The erasure of key LGBTQ+ figures and/or their queerness from history is a very deliberate and calculated exercise. It’s designed to enforce a rigid heteronormative view of the past; to perpetuate the othering of the gay community. In Washington’s Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben, writer Josh Trujillo and artist Levi Hastings present a graphic biography with a twofold mission. Firstly to explore the life of the largely forgotten von Steuben – the “soldier, immigrant and flamboyant homosexual” whose role in the Revolutionary War cannot be underestimated – and secondly to look at his exploits in the context of historical queerness and how we perceive it. It’s an ambitious remit but it’s one tackled with great consideration and care in these 180-plus pages.
Baron von Steuben’s story is a fascinating one in its own right. Washington’s Gay General follows von Steuben’s life starts with its subject’s life in 18th century Prussia, his notable military achievements, lavish lifestyle, relationship with King Frederick, and eventual downfall in Prussian society. Forced to flee Prussia after scandal, his military skills brought him to the attention of founding father Benjamin Franklin who sought to recruit him as an officer for the American forces. Regardless of the admiration he was held in by Washington for his battlefield prowess, the terms of von Steuben’s employment meant he would not be paid until the war was over. This didn’t stop him from spending the last of his money on ostentatiously flashy uniforms for the group of young soldiers he surrounded himself with though. A decision that became all the more farcical for him choosing a red colour scheme that matched the British uniforms…
That becomes a recurring motif in von Steuben’s life as Trujillo and Hastings paint a picture of a brilliant soldiering mind that nonetheless was vulnerable to its own excesses. One scene, for example, depicts him incurring even more debt in hosting a free dinner party for his troops that they had to attend in the nude. His behaviour could be exploitative but we also observe his more intimate connections with younger personnel like William North and Benjamin Walker who would go on to become lifelong companions. A brotherhood that became his family.
Throughout, Trujillo looks to draw parallels with LGBTQ+ lived experiences then and now, juxtaposing the challenges of today with the trials of eras past. Washington’s Gay General isn’t just biography in that regard it’s also (informed) speculative queer history, filling in the gaps that have been erased. In von Steuben’s case we have those who were close to him to thank for saving his papers and allowing a record to survive. It’s a remarkable achievement in that regard. A graphic biography that is also used to mirror and reflect on the countless queer lives through history that couldn’t be documented and remain invisible and unrecognised.
Levi Hastings’ art is perfection in its complementary approach, bursting with historical detail and yet using a slightly stripped back yet highly expressive cartooning style for the cast themselves to ensure we empathise with them on a personal level. One can only guess at the amount of research that went into the visuals, and it pay dividends. The muted blue-tone colouring also gives Washington’s Gay General a certain sense of focus that directs the reader’s eye to the characters first and foremost.
Trujillo is unafraid to acknowledge von Steuben’s mixed legacy as a man of his time – his role in the darkest sides of the rise of the founding fathers is counterpointed by the reality that a gay man wrote the Blue Book of army training procedures that would prove the foundation for everything that came thereafter. But it’s that throughline about the realities of queer history – how it should have been important and celebrated and yet how it is ephemeral and mostly lost. The final pages of Washington’s Gay General emphasise the vitality of grasping onto what record we do have in this regard. It’s powerful and haunting and beautiful and devastating in equal measure. You’d have to be a hardened soul indeed for it not to bring a tear to your eye. It certainly brought more than one to mine.
Josh Trujillo (W), Levi Hastings (A) • Abrams/Surely, $24.99
Review by Andy Oliver
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