Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Kazimierz Pułaski

A photo of Kazimierz Pułaski by Jan Styka – Wikimedia commons

Top 10 fascinating facts about Kazimierz Pułaski

Kazimierz Michał Władysław Wiktor Pułaski of the Ślepowron coat of arms was born on around date 4 or 6 March in 1745. He died on 11 October 1779. Pułaski was a Polish nobleman, soldier, and military commander who has been called, together with his counterpart Michael Kovats de Fabriczy, the father of the American cavalry.

Born in Warsaw and following in his father’s footsteps, he became interested in politics at an early age. He soon became involved in the military and revolutionary affairs in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the article are the top ten fascinating facts about Kazimierz Pułaski.

1. Pulaski was one of the Bar Confederation leaders

Kazimierz Pułaski at Częstochowa during Bar Confederation photo by Józef Chełmoński – Wikimedia commons

Pulaski was not just a leader in the Bar Confederation but one of the best leaders. His early interest in politics gave him the quality to take a position in the Bar Confederation management. He fought against the Commonwealth’s foreign domination. When this uprising failed, he was driven into exile.

The Bar was an association of Polish nobles formed at the fortress of Bar in Podolia in 1768 to defend the internal and external independence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth against Russian influence and against King Stanislaus II Augustus with Polish reformers, who were attempting to limit the power of the Commonwealth’s wealthy magnates.

2. Pulaski saved the life of George Washington in the America War of Independence

George Washington photo by Gilbert Stuart – Wikimedia commons

George Washington was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797.

Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of the Continental Army, Washington led the Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War.

The American Revolutionary War which started on 19 April 1775 and ended on 3 September 1783. It is also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence secured American independence from Great Britain.

Following a recommendation by Benjamin Franklin, a statesman, writer, diplomat, scientist, inventor, and political philosopher, Pulaski travelled to North America to help in the American Revolutionary War. He distinguished himself throughout the revolution, most notably when he saved the life of George Washington.

3. He was among the only eight people to be awarded honorary United States citizenship

A person of exceptional merit, a non-United States citizen, may be declared an honorary citizen of the United States by an Act of Congress or by a proclamation issued by the president of the United States, under authorization granted by Congress.

Eight people have been so honoured, six posthumously, and two, Sir Winston Churchill and Mother Teresa, during their lifetimes. Pulaski is remembered as a hero who fought for independence and freedom in Poland and the United States. This is why Pulaski is one of only eight people to be awarded honorary United States citizenship.

4. Pulaski was supposedly intersex

Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. Analyses since the 1990s of Pulaski’s presumed remains have raised the possibility that Pulaski was intersex.

5. Pulaski was born into nobility

Pułaski family was a Polish noble family with the Ślepowron coat of arms. Its most famous member was Casimir Pulaski. Many of the family members were supporters of the Bar Confederation in the late 18th century.

Pulaski was born in the manor house of the Pułaski family in Warsaw, Poland. Casimir was the second eldest son of Marianna Zielińska and Józef Pułaski, who was an advocate at the Crown Tribunal, the Starost of Warka, and one of the town’s most notable inhabitants.

He was a brother of Franciszek Ksawery Pułaski and Antoni Pułaski. His family bore the Ślepowron coat of arms.

6. There is some circumstantial evidence that Pulaski was a Freemason

Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organizations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients.

The Pułaski family was Roman Catholic and early in his youth, Casimir Pulaski attended an elite college run by Theatines, a male religious order of the Catholic Church in Warsaw, but did not finish his education.

The claim that Pulaski was a masonry started when Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette laid the cornerstone of the monument erected in Pulaski’s honour in Monterey Square in Savannah in 1824. A full Masonic ceremony took place with Richard T. Turner, High Priest of the Georgia chapter, conducting the service.

7. Pulaski started his military in 1762

Carl Christian Joseph of Saxony photo by – Wikimedia commons

To be exclusive he started his military career as a page of Carl Christian Joseph of Saxony, Duke of Courland, and the Polish king’s vassal. He spent six months at the ducal court in Mitau, during which the court was interned in the palaces by the Russian forces occupying the area.

Pulaski then returned to Warsaw, and his father gave him the village of Zezulińce in Podole; from that time, Pulaski used the title of Starost of Zezulińce.

8. His father was called Józef Pułaski

Józef Pułaski of the house of Ślepowron was a Polish noble, starost of Warka, deputy to Sejm, one of the creators and members of the Konfederacja Barska which is commonly known as the Bar Confederation. Jozef gave his son Pulaski the village of Zezulińce in Podole to take charge of it.

9. Pulaski died a heroic death

A painted photo of Pulaski in war  by Juliusz Kossak  – Wikimedia commons

While attempting to rally fleeing French forces during a cavalry charge, Pulaski was mortally wounded by grapeshot. The reported grapeshot is on display at the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah. The Charleston Museum also has grapeshot reported to be from Pulaski’s wound.

Pulaski was carried from the field of battle and taken aboard the South Carolina merchant brig privateer Wasp, under the command of Captain Samuel Bulfinch, where he died two days later, having never regained consciousness. His heroic death, admired by American Patriot supporters, further boosted his reputation in America.

10. He never married

As a great combatant, it is believed that Pulaski only engaged wholly in war more than he engaged in his personal life. He never married and had no descendants. The fact that he never married, has stirred many controversial suggestions and all lead to the fact he had intersex characteristics.