This week, I announced the name of the first book in my Slavic fantasy series, A Dagger in the Winds, and I’ll continue to post more about the book in upcoming weeks and months. Today, though, is the 4th of July (aka American Independence Day), so for this Slavic Saturday, I thought it would be fun to look at the role that two particular Slavic generals, Casimir Pulaski and Tadeusz Kościuszko, had on the American Revolution.
(June 2021 Updated) Note: If you enjoy Slavic mythology and tales, check out A Dagger in the Winds, the first book in my Slavic fantasy series called The Frostmarked Chronicles. You can also join my monthly newsletter for updates and free novellas (such as the prequel, The Rider in the Night) set in the world of the series.
Slavs did not make up a significant portion of colonial America’s population, and it wasn’t until the later 1800s and early 1900s that many Slavs, particularly the Polish, immigrated to the United States. A hundred years sooner, though, two Polish generals were making their names known by helping ensure the Revolutionary War was a victory for the colonies and even fighting for slaves’ freedom.
First, Pulaski, who is the better known of the two. But before we go into his involvement in the war, who was he?
Born on March 4th, 1745 in Warsaw, then the capital of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Pulaski was a member of the Polish aristocracy. The Commonwealth had steadily lost power before and during Pulaski’s early life. By 1768, the country had become little more than a puppet of Imperial Russia, and many aristocrats within the Commonwealth hoped to change that, among them Pulaski.
That year, Pulaski and other aristocrats formed the Confederation of the Bar and declared war against Russia in hopes of freeing their country from its control. He was a skilled cavalryman (as Poland is often historically remembered for) and managed multiple upset victories against the Russians. In the end, though, a failed assassination attempt against the Russian controlled Polish king led France and Austria to pull their support of the revolution. Pulaski and his allies were defeated in 1772, and he fled to France.
Though this defeat was a harsh one in his home country, he met an important figure in Paris. Benjamin Franklin was in Paris in 1777, attempting to gain support from the French government. That same government had become annoyed with Pulaski’s zeal for liberty, and they offered to pay for Pulaski’s trip to America to join the war. Many failed European generals sought to go to America, but Franklin had heard of Pulaski’s successes against Russia and agreed to bring him.
Now, Pulaski was known for being quite stubborn. When he arrived in America, he went straight to General George Washington and was informed that the Continental Congress had to approve him to be a general in the war. Pulaski didn’t wait, and instead joined Washington at the Battle of Brandywine.
The battle had gone well under Washington’s orders until the British launched a flanking attack that threatened to cripple the American troops and kill Washington himself. Pulaski had been unable to lead yet in the fight and pleaded with Washington to let him counter the flank. Eventually, Washington let him take his own guard of thirty cavalrymen, and under Pulaski’s lead, they held off the British advance long enough for Washington to retreat with his men.
Nearly instantaneously, the Continental Congress awarded Pulaski the title of Brigadier General as well as an honorary title of “Commander of the Horse.” Pulaski went on to be involved in many more battles during the Revolutionary War, forming an independent cavalry division based on the famous Polish Winged Hussars, and though he had success at first, his bravado lost him favor with Washington.
He was sent away to South Carolina and Georgia, where a few ill-timed charges cost him his life at the Siege of Savannah. Despite that defeat, though, he has been remembered in history as a hero, and the Polish populations in Chicago, Grand Rapids, and other midwestern towns celebrate a day in his honor every year.
Tadeusz Kościuszko is much less well-known, but he was yet another Polish general who joined the American Revolution. In a way, he was also more respected, lacking Pulaski’s arrogance and instead having engineering prowess.
Kościuszko was born in what today is Belarus, and after receiving a military education in Warsaw and Paris fled to America in 1776 after failing to elope with the daughter of a Polish general. He quickly became known as a skilled engineer, working in the employ of Benjamin Franklin originally before working with Major General Horatio Gates.
In 1777, Kościuszko’s recommendation of battery defenses overlooking Fort Ticonderoga was rejected, a decision that led to the fort’s fall to British forces. Kościuszko was put in charge of delaying the British advance as the Americans retreated. As an engineer, his plan involved dropping trees, blocking rivers and streams, and demolishing bridges, and all of this ravaged the British supply lines, allowing the Americans to get away.
After this, Kościuszko was Gates’s key resource to scout the best defensible territory ahead of battles. It was his skill that helped Gates win the Battle of Saratoga, as his defenses disrupted the British advance. The victory at Saratoga turned the tide of the war, and Kościuszko was reassigned to West Point, where his fortifications were praised as some of the most innovative of the period.
Kościuszko spent the rest of the war as the chief of the engineering corps., assisting the southern front in the eventual victory against the British. He was noted as treating the African-Americans he served with as equals and believing in freedom for the slaves, unlike many others at the time. In his will, he sought to buy the freedom of many slaves, including Thomas Jefferson’s, as well as provide them education. Jefferson did not comply with the will.
Following the war, he was promoted to Brigadier General and granted citizenship for his efforts in the war. He never received his full payment from the Continental Congress, though, and eventually returned to Poland (which was no longer independent and had been partitioned between Russia and other nations), impoverished, until he was made a general in the Polish army five years later. After that, he participated in a revolution against the powers that controlled Poland. Unfortunately, the revolution failed, and he fled to America again. He was welcomed by Jefferson and others as a hero but never returned to his home country.
So, while Slavs were few in number in early America, those that participated in the war surely pulled their weight. Between saving Washington’s life, ensuring victory at Saratoga, and more, without Slavs, the American Revolution may have looked entirely different. Neither of these generals were born in America, but they fought for liberty and independence for America, even when their homeland could not have its own.
That’s all for this week’s Slavic Saturday. Be sure to keep a lookout for more posts next week, and if you haven’t seen the full series of posts, be sure to check them out.
*As always just a quick disclaimer. Slavic mythology is broad and not written in many if any primary sources, so there’s a variety of interpretations. The interpretations I’m using here are from the sources I’ve found to be reliable and as well as some creative freedom for my book series.