Tadeusz Kościuszko
Tadeusz Kościuszko | |
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Kościuszko is shown wearing the eagle of the Society of the Cincinnati, awarded to him by General Washington. (Karl G. Schweikart) Coat of arms: Roch III | |
| Birth name | Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko |
| Born | 4 February 1746 Mereczowszczyzna, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth |
| Died | 15 October 1817 (aged 71) Solothurn, Switzerland |
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| Years of service | 1765–1776, 1784–1794 (Poland-Lithuania) 1776–1784 (United States) |
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Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko[note 1] (English: Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciuszko;[note 2] 4 or 12 February 1746 – 15 October 1817) was a Polish military engineer, statesman, and military leader who became a national hero in Poland, the United States, Lithuania, and Belarus.[4][5][6][7][8] He fought in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's struggles against Russia and Prussia, and on the U.S. side in the American Revolutionary War. As Supreme Commander of the Polish National Armed Forces, he led the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising.
Kościuszko was born in February 1746, in a manor house on the Mereczowszczyzna estate in Brest Litovsk Voivodeship, then Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, now the Ivatsevichy District of Belarus.[9] At age 20, he graduated from the Corps of Cadets in Warsaw, Poland. After the start of the War of the Bar Confederation in 1768, Kościuszko moved to France in 1769 to study. He returned to the Commonwealth in 1774, two years after the First Partition, and was a tutor in Józef Sylwester Sosnowski's household. In 1776, Kościuszko moved to North America, where he took part in the American Revolutionary War as a colonel in the Continental Army. An accomplished military architect, he designed and oversaw the construction of state-of-the-art fortifications, including those at West Point, New York. In 1783, in recognition of his services, the Continental Congress promoted him to brigadier general.
Upon returning to Poland in 1784, Kościuszko was commissioned as a major general in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Army in 1789. After the Polish–Russian War of 1792 resulted in the Commonwealth's Second Partition, he commanded an uprising against the Russian Empire in March 1794 until he was captured at the Battle of Maciejowice in October 1794. The defeat of the Kościuszko Uprising that November led to Poland's Third Partition in 1795, which ended the Commonwealth. In 1796, following the death of Tsaritsa Catherine II, Kościuszko was pardoned by her successor, Tsar Paul I, and he emigrated to the United States. A close friend of Thomas Jefferson, with whom he shared ideals of human rights, Kościuszko wrote a will in 1798, dedicating his U.S. assets to the education and freedom of the U.S. slaves. Kościuszko eventually returned to Europe and lived in Switzerland until his death in 1817. The execution of his testament later proved difficult, and the funds were never used for the purpose he intended.[10]
- ^ President Komorowski Honors Kosciuszko at West Point on YouTube, 3′33″.
- ^ Bumblauskas, 1994, p. 4.
- ^ Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3 ed.). Harlow: Pearson. p. 446. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0. "Kosciusko [sic]".
- ^ A museum dedicated to the Polish military hero Tadeusz Kościuszko. "Kościuszko Museum - The Kościuszko Museum has existed in Solothurn (Switzerland) at Gurzelngasse 12 since 1936. The Polish national hero Tadeusz Kościuszko lived and died in this house". www.solothurn-city.ch. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
Life of the Polish military hero Tadeusz Kościuszko – who spent the last few years of his life in Solothurn from 1814 to 1817 – through documents, images and objects. The house where he died was converted into the Kościuszko Museum and represents both his close relationship with Solothurn and a piece of world history.
- ^ Dolan, Sean (1997). The Polish Americans. Chelsea House. ISBN 978-0-7910-3364-7.
- ^ Greene, Meg (2002). Thaddeus Kos ́ciuszko: Polish General and Patriot. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4381-2513-8.
- ^ "2015 Programs and Events | Minsk, Belarus - Embassy of the United States". 17 November 2015. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015.
- ^ Memorial Exhibition Thaddeus Kosciuszko, Revered Polish and American Hero, His Patriotism, Vision, and Zeal Revealed in a Collection of Autograph Letters by Him: As Well in a Collection of Autograph Letters about Him by Prominent Leaders of the American Revolution and Other, Also Oil Painting, Medals, Engravings, Books, Broadsides and Other Relics Being the Collection Formed by Dr.&Mrs. Alexander Kahanowicz : Exhibition from Sunday, May Fifteenth to June Eleventh, The Anderson Galleries [...], New York. Anderson Galleries - The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1927.
- ^ Уладзімер Арлоў «Імёны Свабоды» (Uladzimer Arloǔ "The Names of Freedom")(in Belarusian) pp 26-27
- ^ Pula, James S. (1977). "The American Will of Thaddeus Kosciuszko". Polish American Studies. 34 (1): 16–25. ISSN 0032-2806. JSTOR 20147972.
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