Tadeusz Kościuszko — a hero of two continents

Polish general and a leader of the national uprising against the Russians in XVIII century, a brigadier and chief engineer of Continental Army in the American War of Independece, was a strong supporter of freedom and equality of all people, regardless of their ethnic background. His legacy in United States has not been fulfilled.

Tadeusz Kościuszko is also known as Thaddeus Kosciuszko or simply “Kozjasko”. His family name that comes from former Lithuania (its part which is today Belarus), belonging to once powerful Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, is unpronauncable for most of English-speakers. Despite this fact numerous cities in USA bear his name. The highest mountain in Australia is also Mount of Kosciuszko.
Do you know that Kościuszko’s portrait even made it on board Captain Nemo’s submarine, the Nautilus?
Of course he is memorized in Poland — when you visit Krakow one day, go to Kosciuszko Mound, erected by Cracovians in 1823 to commemorate their national hero.

Why is it so? It is not only due to being great soldier and skilled military engineer.The hero was leading enslaved people against their oppressors.

Graduated from the Corps of Cadets in Warsaw, Poland, he couldn’t find proper employment in the then small and weak Polish Army. He moved to France to study and there he met Thomas Jefferson’s. Both men shared ideals of human rights and became friends.
Kościuszko traveled to America in 1776 where he joined the Continental Army as a colonel. He designed there and oversaw the construction of advanced fortifications. Probably his most known fortifications are those at West Point, New York. In recognition of his services, the Continental Congress promoted him in 1783 to brigadier general.

Kościuszko always stood up for the rights of people of many social and ethnic groups. During American War he became friends with Agrippa Hull, a black man who served as his aide-de-camp during the Revolutionary War. Kościuszko’s regard for Hull was considered unusual at the time.
Several years later, during the Insurgence in Poland, Kościuszko was joined by another African American, Jean Lapierre, who also became his aide-de-camp.

After to Poland he took part in the Polish–Russian War of 1792 as a major general. The war against powerful Russia was lost, although Kościuszko performed well.
After Second Partition of Poland (result of the war), he organized and commanded an uprising against the Russian Empire in March 1794. He called to arms whole nation.

Kościuszko issued a manifesto, which attempted to eliminate serfdom, reduced corvee work and promised that peasants would own the land they cultivated. The manifesto is considered the first legal act establishing Polish peasants as citizens.

Injured on the battlefield and captured at the Battle of Maciejowice in October 1794, he spent several years in captivity. Pardoned by the successor of Tsaritsa Catherine II, Paul I, the Polish general emigrated again to the United States.
There he wrote a will in 1798, dedicating his U.S. assets to the education and freedom of the U.S. slaves — including those of his friend Jefferson.
Kosciuszko eventually returned to Europe and lived in Switzerland until his death in 1817.
Unfortunately, the execution of his will later proved difficult, although the executor of his testimony was Jefferson himself (he pleaded his inability to execute the will due to age), and the funds were never used for the purpose Kościuszko intended.

Another interesting fact is that Kościuszko also met Little Turtle, a chieftain of the Miami People,one of the most famous Native American military leaders. Polish general presented him with a matching pair of pistols and instructed to use them on “the first man who ever comes to subjugate you.”
I wonder — were the same pistols he had been given by George Washington?