“He is as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known, and of that liberty which is to go to all, and not to the few or rich alone.” – Thomas Jefferson speaking about Revolutionary War hero Thaddeus Kościuszko (pronounced cuz-CHOOSE-co).
The dedication and bravery of the individual Revolutionary War soldier is what led to independence from Great Britain. One of those soldiers was a Polish military engineer named Thaddeus Kosciuszko. His contributions to the Continental Army, as well as to his native Poland, made Kosciuszko one of the great champions of liberty during the eighteenth century. His story deserves more recognition.
Born in present-day Belarus in 1746, Kosciuszko eventually enrolled in the Corps of Cadets in what is now Warsaw University and graduated in 1766. He lived in Paris, France thereafter, where he grew a dislike of the existing power structure of the time, particularly the idea that the few could govern the many without their consent. He sought to change the European feudal system, that predominated Europe, because it subjugated many to servitude against their will.
Across the Atlantic Ocean, great changes were occurring in the American colonies. Revolution had started after shots were exchanged at the towns of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts on April 19, 1775, between American militiamen and British soldiers. While this stirred many throughout the American colonies to join the fight against British rule, this spirit also reached some in Europe, including Kosciuszko. At a time before France formally declared its support for the American cause of independence, a French citizen named Pierre de Beaumarchais was secretly sending supplies and men to the American colonies to fight the British. With Beaumarchais’ help, Thaddeus Kosciuszko sailed off to America.
Kosciuszko barely survived the voyage from Europe after the ship he was on wrecked at sea. Kosciuszko made it to Philadelphia in August 1776, shortly after the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress, and enlisted in the Continental Army. There, he met Benjamin Franklin, who assisted him in finding his proper place in the Army. With his education and formal military training, Kosciuszko was made a colonel of engineers, a position where he principally designed and built defenses and earthworks. For the undertrained Americans, this was badly needed.
After initially designing defenses around Philadelphia, by May 1777, Thaddeus Kosciuszko was sent to evaluate the defenses around Fort Ticonderoga in Upstate New York, where his tactical genius began to be displayed. He recognized that a hill near the fort needed to be fortified with cannons for it to be held. However, his superiors within the Continental Army ignored this advice. In July, a British force of 8,000 men arrived and sent their cannons up the same hill where Kosciuszko had advocated that American cannons should have been placed. Kosciuszko had been correct in his assessment of this position. The British cannons fired into Fort Ticonderoga from this hill, forcing the Americans to evacuate the fort.
In September 1777, the Battle of Saratoga started in the Hudson Valley of Upstate New York. The British sought to seize the valley to divide the colonies. An American army led by General Horatio Gates opposed them in their effort. Kosciuszko’s job was to locate a defensive position for the Continental Army to fight the British. He did just that. Kosciuszko’s defenses were so effective that the British had to alter their battle plan and try to go around them. This sent the British into wooded areas where American forces were waiting. The British attack failed as a result of the heavy casualties suffered by their forces. Two weeks later, the British attacked again. This time, the British failed, largely thanks to the American General Benedict Arnold, who led a successful charge against them. By mid-October, British forces surrendered.
The Battle of Saratoga proved to be a turning point in the war. Although unknown at the time of the conflict, the American victory at Saratoga led France to declare its support for American independence and send soldiers and important naval assets to the colonies. Without this support from the French, the Revolutionary War may have ended differently.
Horatio Gates understood the importance of selecting the optimum ground for the battle. Gates wrote to Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, giving praise to Kosciuszko. He wrote, “The great tacticians of the campaign were hills and forests which a young Polish Engineer was skillful enough to select for my encampment.”
After Saratoga, Thaddeus Kosciuszko was asked to improve the defenses at West Point. Situated on the Hudson River, West Point was an important strategic position during the war because of its access to the Hudson Valley in New York. George Washington called West Point the “key to America.” Because of this, it was a location over which both sides sought control.
Again, Kosciuszko completed his task well. The British never took control of West Point, although not without trying. Thaddeus Kosciuszko’s plans for West Point’s defenses made their way into the hands of Benedict Arnold. This sent the two heroes of the Battle of Saratoga onto very different paths in history. Perhaps feeling slighted that his contributions at Saratoga and to the Continental Army were not adequately recognized, or perhaps for money or other reasons known only to him, Arnold handed over copies of these plans to his British contact, John André, in his infamous act of treason. André was captured and hanged before he could give Kosciuszko’s West Point plans to his superiors. Arnold survived the war and fled to England.
Had the British successfully captured West Point, their strategy likely would have remained focusing their resources on the Northern colonies. Instead, they shifted their focus to the Southern colonies. Thaddeus Kosciuszko was already in the Carolinas, serving as the chief engineer under the command of Nathaniel Green.
In early 1781, Kosciuszko’s skill provided another miraculous moment in the Revolutionary War. Green’s American army was chased across North Carolina by a numerically superior British force under the command of General Charles Cornwallis. The Americans were never in a position to afford losing large amounts of soldiers, and an engagement with the British likely would have led to the death or capture of Green’s entire army. The Americans first needed to cross the Dan River between North Carolina and Virginia to escape the British. By the slimmest of margins, thanks to boats Kosciuszko designed, Green’s army was transported safely across the Dan River without a confrontation with the British army. Importantly, the survival of Green’s army ensured they would fight again. They did so at Yorktown, Virginia, where Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781, effectively ending the war.
Thaddeus Kosciuszko served the remainder of the war as a field commander outside Charleston, South Carolina, in the last skirmishes of the Revolutionary War. He suffered a bayonet wound inspecting trenches and earthworks but survived. He remains one of the quiet heroes of the American Revolution.
George Washington understood Thaddeus Kosciuszko’s important contributions to the Continental Army throughout the Revolutionary War. When Washington bid his officers farewell at Fraunces Tavern in New York City on December 4, 1783, he gave Kosciuszko his cameo ring from the Society of the Cincinnati, a recognition from Washington that Kosciuszko cherished fighting for the liberty of others more than craving power for himself. Washington and Kosciuszko shared this trait. Thaddeus Kosciuszko has been referred to by some historians as the “Polish George Washington.”
This monument to Thaddeus Kościuszko in Chicago, Illinois, is one of several in the United States. Other monuments to Kościuszko are in Washington, D.C., Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Philadelphia, West Point, and other cities in the U.S. and Poland, yet his story is not widely known. His statue in Washington, D.C., was damaged during riots in the summer of 2020, even though Kościuszko was an advocate for the freedom of slaves, European serfs, Jews, and all oppressed people. He believed education could lift the oppressed out of poverty.
In July 1784, Thaddeus Kosciuszko returned to his native Poland. After his experiences in America, he could have lived a quiet life, far away from violence and war. However, this was not who Kosciuszko was. The Polish people needed him. On May 18, 1792, over 100,000 Russian soldiers invaded Poland after Poland adopted Europe’s first constitution. Kosciuszko became a general for Poland, leading outnumbered Polish soldiers to two important victories against the Russians. Despite these victories, the Polish monarchy gave up territory to end the fighting.
On March 23, 1794, Kosciuszko led a revolt to liberate Poland from Russia and Prussia. By November 1794, the revolution failed as Russian soldiers massacred 20,000 Polish civilians and soldiers. Kosciuszko was wounded and imprisoned by the Russians.
After two years of imprisonment, Kosciuszko was released after the death of Russian Czarina Catherine the Great. He returned to the United States on August 18, 1797. After a short stay in the United States, Thaddeus Kosciuszko returned to Europe one last time. There, he met with another of history’s best-known figures, Napolean Bonaparte, on at least two occasions in an attempt to broker a peace agreement between France and Poland. Kosciuszko identified the danger of Bonaparte’s ambitions, and the two did not care for each other. No agreement was reached.
Suffering from his many battle wounds and in increasingly poor health, Thaddeus Kosciuszko was thrown from his horse near Lake Geneva, Switzerland. He died on October 15, 1817, at age 71.
The statue of Thomas Jefferson at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. depicts Jefferson wearing a fur coat. This coat was a gift from Thaddeus Kościuszko to him.
However, Kosciuszko’s story does not end there. He had a friendship with Thomas Jefferson. The two corresponded regularly. Kosciuszko made Jefferson the executor of his estate with the hope that Jefferson would use proceeds from the sale of Kosciuszko’s home in the United States and his back pay from his time in the Continental Army as payment to buy the freedom of Jefferson’s slaves after Jefferson died. However, this did not occur. An old and ailing Jefferson did not take the proper legal steps to free his slaves as Kosciuszko intended. Other members of Kosciuszko’s family made their own claims to his estate, and Jefferson did not want a protracted legal dispute. A court granted Jefferson’s request to be removed as executor of Kosciuszko’s estate.
Admired by George Washington, friends with Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, a hero of the American Revolution and the Polish people, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, “the pure son of liberty,” led an extraordinary life fighting for freedom worldwide. While Americans rightfully pay homage to the brave soldiers who have fought in America’s wars throughout the centuries, it is easy to forget about the soldiers of the American Revolution, whose character, bravery, and commitment to fighting for a cause greater than themselves led to the establishment of the United States. An estimated 25,000 American soldiers of the Revolution made the ultimate sacrifice to gain the freedoms we take for granted today. 231,000 soldiers served in the Continental Army at different times throughout the war. These soldiers became the first United States veterans. Thaddeus Kosciuszko represents just one of their heroic stories.
Recommended Reading – Liberty’s Lions: The Catholic Revolutionaries Who Established America by Dan LeRoy
He had an amazingly productive life. I learned a lot from this article. Wonderful read.