Patriot and soldier, born at Winiary, Poland, 4 March, 1748; died on
the Wasp, in the harbour of Savannah, 11 Oct., 1779; eldest son of Count
Joseph Pulaski and Maria Zislinska.
His father, a noted jurist, reared him for the bar, and he received
his military training, as a youth, in the guard of Charles, Duke of
Courland. Pulaski was one of those who, under the leadership of his
father, formed, 29 Feb., 1768, the confederation of Bar, to free Poland
from Russia. Driven into Moldavia he, returning, seized the monastery of
Berdichev and for several weeks withstood with slender forces a siege
by the Russians. Again finding refuge in Moldavia in 1769 after the
arrest and death of his father, Pulaski in a series of brilliant marches
overran and raised in revolt the greater part of Poland and Lithuania.
Defeated by Suvaroff at Lomazy, near Wladowa, he fled with only ten men
into the Carpathian Mountains. There he spent the winter of 1769-70,
making forays into Poland, and in August, 1770, seized the fortified
monastery of Czenstochowa.
Painting by Józef Chełmońsk
He gallantly defended it against a siege in Jan., 1771, and forced
the Russians to withdraw. Though he joined his compatriots in driving
the Russians across the Vistula, his failure to co-operate with
Dumouriez is considered to have caused the loss of the battle of
Landskron, where Suvaroff overwhelmingly defeated the patriots. Beaten
at Cartenow near Leopol and failing to take Zamose, he returned to
Czenstochowa. Though modern historians hold him guiltless, he was
convicted of treason and outlawed for complicity in the plot to seize
and carry off King Stanislaus, 3 Nov., 1771. This plot lead to the open
intervention of Prussia and Austria, and Pulaski, after a gallant but
futile defence of Czenstochowa, fled in 1772 to Turkey, and later to
France.
Casimir Pułaski at Częstochowa’s walls
On 17 Oct., 1776, he offered his services to Franklin, the American
agent, landed at Boston in July, 1777, and joined Washington. He
rendered signal service, 4 Sept., 1777, at Brandywine Creek; he was
commissioned 15 Sept., 1777, by the Continental Congress commander of
the horse with rank of brigadier. He saved the army from surprise at
Warren Tavern, and took part, 4 Oct., 1777, in the battle of Germantown.
He was prominent in the Jersey campaign during the winter, but resigned
his command, 28 March, 1778, to organize an independent corps known as
Pulaski’s Legion. The banner of the legion was purchased by him from the
Moravians at Bethlehem and not presented to him, as represented by
Longfellow in his “Hymn of the Moravian Nuns”. Ordered to Little Egg
Harbor, New Jersey, the legion on 15 Oct., 1778, suffered severe loss
through a night attack, which he repulsed. Dissatisfied with his
assignments, he was only dissuaded by Washington from resignation. He
entered Charleston, 8 May, 1779; he gallantly attacked the investing
British on 11 May. Against the inclination of the authorities he held
the city until it was relieved on 13 May. He rendered great services
during the siege of Savannah, Georgia, and in the assault on the city, 9
Oct., he commanded both the American and French cavalry. He was wounded
by a shot in the upper part of the thigh, and was taken on board the
brig Wasp. He died as the vessel was leaving the river and was buried at
sea off St. Helena’s Island, South Carolina. It has been mistakenly
held by some that his remains lie under the monument erected to his
memory at Savannah. On 11 May, 1910, there was unveiled at Washington a
monument to his memory, erected by order of Congress.
Sparks, The Library of American Biography, second series (15 vols., Boston, 1844-47), IV, 365-446; De Rulhière, Histoire de l’Anarchie de Pologne, et du démembrement de cette République (Paris, 1807); Senate Executive Document, no. 120, 49th Congress, 2nd Session (1887); American Catholic Historical Researches, new series, VI (1910).
