George Washington’s final official letter as commander of the Continental Army was written to Steuben on December 23, 1783, paying tribute to him and thanking him for his role in helping America achieve independence. Steuben stood with other leading figures on the balcony at Federal Hall in New York City in 1789 when Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. President. In gratitude for his service, New York State conferred honorary citizenship on Steuben in 1786 and awarded him 16,000 acres of land in the Mohawk Valley, where he erected a log cabin and eventually retired full time after poverty forced him to leave his New York City residence. After retiring from military service in 1783, he was regularly consulted on Congressional initiatives, was appointed to the New York State Board of Regents in 1787, and presided at the laying of the cornerstone of what is now Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. After seven years of debate, Congress voted in 1790 to grant him an annual pension of $2,500, far less than he expected, and on November 28, 1794, he died suddenly at his frontier home, where, according to his wishes, he was wrapped in his military cloak and quietly buried in an unmarked grave.