Tadeusz Kościuszko

Polish military leader and engineer

• Born: February 4, 1746
• Birthplace: Mereczowszczyzna, Poland (now in Belarus)
• Died: October 15, 1817
• Place of death: Solothurn, Switzerland

Kościuszko played a major role in supporting the Continental army in its struggle with British forces during the American Revolution. His efforts led to the establishment of fortifications that allowed the Americans to withstand the British invasion. In Poland, he led a legendary albeit abortive uprising against Russian forces.

Early Life

Tadeusz Kościuszko (tah-DEH-ewsh kawsh-CHEWSH-kaw), second son of a minor Polish nobleman, was born on the family estate near Novorudok in 1746. Like most children of families of stature, he was educated at home before being sent to study with the Piarist fathers at Lubieszów. His father died in 1758, leaving an already impoverished estate open to plunder. His mother managed to hold things together for a decade before she died in 1768; the estate then passed to Kościuszko’s elder brother, and for decades the two brothers had to ward off a series of creditors.

Shortly before his mother died, Kościuszko had managed to gain an appointment to the newly created Royal Military Academy in Warsaw, joining its inaugural class in 1765. There, he learned the military arts, including principles of engineering that would later allow him to achieve distinction in two countries. Upon graduation, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the teach at the academy; shortly thereafter, he was promoted to captain and sent to France in 1769 for further study. At the French Academy of Painting and Sculpture, he improved his knowledge of art and drafting; at the same time, he sought private tutoring in mathematics, military science, and engineering.

When Kościuszko returned to Poland four years later, he discovered he had no future in a Polish uniform. The major powers that had traditionally dominated Polish affairs—France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria—had made it impossible for the Polish military to function effectively. Frustrated, he found work as a tutor, but in 1775 he decided to leave Poland. He went first to France and Germany, but in 1776 decided to go to America to seek a commission in the newly organized Continental army.

Life’s Work

Kościuszko landed in America in the summer of 1776 to find a country badly in need of his engineering skills. Commissioned a colonel of engineers shortly after arriving, he quickly established a reputation as a skilled engineer by assisting the militia in Philadelphia to construct defenses for the city. There he worked briefly for General Horatio Gates, a key figure in the Continental army; the two struck up a lifelong friendship.

Kościuszko’s first posting with the regular army was in the Northern Command at Fort Ticonderoga. His work on the defenses of this outpost led to criticism from officers who shared the ideas of French engineers regarding defensive fortifications. Throughout the War for American Independence, Kościuszko found himself at odds with French engineers, who had been sought by the Continental Congress to fill a void in the American army’s expertise. Since the Congress found itself beholden to the French, the Polish officer was frequently passed over for promotion or preferential assignment in favor of the cadre of officers led by Louis du Portail, who was eventually promoted to brigadier general and made chief of engineers.

When the British drove the Americans from Ticonderoga, Kościuszko was reunited with his mentor General Gates, and he was instrumental in designing fortifications at Bemis Hill that led to the American victory at Saratoga in October, 1777. Following this victory, Kościuszko joined American troops assigned to fortify a spot on the Hudson River where they could control ship traffic and deny the British easy access through New York. For the next eighteen months, the Pole worked on a series of fortifications above the river at a strategic spot known as West Point. To maintain control of the river, he devised a series of connected outposts on the heights and stretched a great chain across the Hudson to prevent ships from passing either way. Although he applied on more than one occasion for transfer from this garrison duty for assignment with troops in the field, General George Washington himself determined that Kościuszko’s expertise was vital to operations at West Point and kept him there until 1780. He was released only by special request from General Gates, newly appointed to head the Continental army’s Southern Command, who asked that Kościuszko be assigned as his chief engineer.

Although Gates did not remain in the south for long after the Americans’ disastrous defeat at Camden, Kościuszko stayed on for two years, helping to fortify American positions and to design plans for storming British fortifications. For a brief time, he served with line troops, commanding several squadrons of cavalry on reconnaissance missions and raids. He was present at the Siege of Charleston, South Carolina, and was among the first to enter the city when the British evacuated.

Sadly for Kościuszko, the country that depended heavily on his services in war was not so quick to settle its debts with him when peace ensued. For two years, he remained in America attempting to get the back pay owed to him. In 1784, armed with an IOU for a portion of what was due him, he returned to Europe, making his way to Poland via Paris.

Kościuszko’s homeland was once again in turmoil. The stirrings of democratic feeling among the populace were viewed with great skepticism by the outside nations that had for some time controlled events in Poland. When the Polish government was granted permission to reestablish a national army in 1789, Kościuszko was offered a commission as a major general. Relying on his experiences in America, he attempted to organize the army into a small standing force of professionals augmented by a civilian militia.

In 1791, emboldened by popular sentiment, the Poles adopted a constitution that promoted democracy and provided individual rights. Russian empress Catherine the Great objected, and, in 1792, she sent 100,000 Russian troops to quash what was in her view rebellious behavior. Under Kościuszko, the Polish army held the Russians at bay for some time. Eventually, however, Russia and her ally Prussia prevailed and further divided the country into spheres of influence that reduced independent Poland to a small area around Warsaw.

Kościuszko was forced to flee Poland; he spent the next two years in exile, plotting a return and rebellion that eventually came to fruition in early 1794. Unfortunately, Kościuszko found the tasks of leading an army in the field and simultaneously establishing a new government too much to handle. Although his personal bravery assisted the Poles in winning an important battle at Racławice in the spring of 1794, eventually his forces were defeated at Maciejowice in October of that year. To punish the Poles, Russia and Prussia partitioned the country even further, virtually wiping it off the map.

Kościuszko was wounded seriously at Maciejowice, taken prisoner, and sent to Russia, where he was imprisoned for two years. Paroled by the czar on the promise that he would lead no more rebellions, Kościuszko spent most of the remainder of his life in exile from Poland, eventually taking up residence in Solothurn, Switzerland, where he died of influenza in 1817.

Significance

Tadeusz Kościuszko’s work with the Continental army and his leadership in Poland near the end of the century earned him a place in the annals of both countries. His engineering prowess not only provided significant assistance to the Continental army but also established for the United States a fortress on the Hudson River that would one day become home to the world’s foremost military academy. In Poland, his selfless service to the nation and his fierce commitment to individual liberty and democracy inspired his people even when their efforts to achieve independence failed. The memory of his ill-fated revolt passed into the lore of the Polish people and was used over the next two hundred years as a rallying cry by groups struggling against foreign powers to gain independence for the nation.

Bibliography

Gardner, Monica M. Kosciuszko: A Biography. Rev. ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1943. The first modern scholarly study of Kościuszko, Gardner’s brief biographical sketch is a good introduction to the major events of his life; Gardner also offers insight into his contributions to the United States and Poland.

Haiman, Miecislaus. Kosciuszko in the American Revolution. New York: Polish Institute of the Arts and Sciences in America, 1943. Although somewhat biased in favor of his subject, Haiman examines the role Kościuszko played in assisting colonial forces in defeating the British in both the Northern and Southern theaters of operations during the American Revolution.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Kosciuszko: Leader and Exile. New York: Polish Institute of the Arts and Sciences in America, 1946. In the second volume of his biography of the Polish soldier, Haiman describes his role in the 1794 uprising in Poland and his life in exile following the defeat of the rebels.

Lukowski, Jerry, and Hubert Zawadski. A Concise History of Poland. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. The authors place the story of the 1794 rebellion in which Kościuszko played a significant role in the larger context of Polish history.

Pula, James S. Thaddeus Koskiuszko: The Purest Son of Liberty. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1999. Pula offers a thoroughly researched account of Kościuszko’s life, detailing his contributions to both the American colonies’ struggle for freedom and the ill-fated 1794 rebellion in his native Poland.