The Revolutionary War had started in North America. Von Steuben looked for a job with the Continental Army. He went to France and met Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane. Franklin and Deane wanted von Steuben to help the Continental Army, so they wrote to the Continental Congress. They lied and said he had been a general in the Prussian army (he had really only been a captain). They told other lies too. They did this because many, many Europeans from rich or noble families wanted to fight in the Continental Army. Many of them expected to be generals, but the Continental Army was not large enough for so many generals. Also, many of them had not fought in wars before, and the Continental Congress sent them home. Franklin and Deane knew that only a very, very good story would make Congress hire von Steuben.