BRIEF BIOGRPAHY OF CASIMIR PULASKI

Born in the gentry class in Warka, Poland, about March 4^th, 1747, Casimir Pulaski honed his military skills through long and vigorous resistance to the foreign usurpers of his native land.  Ultimately, the valiant Pole was no match against Poland’s greedy neighbors, whose meddling resulted in the first partition of that troubled land.  Pulaski’s property was confiscated, his rank was degraded, and he was declared an outlaw by the Russian faction in Poland. 

Pulaski tried to expose Poland’s King Stanislaus Poniatowski as a puppet of the Russians in order to rally his countrymen against foreign encroachment  However, the Polish count was condemned to death—accused, without merit, of attempting to assassinate his nation’s last king.  After a final bloody and unsuccessful engagement with the Russians, Pulaski went into exile for five years.  He fled to Turkey, with the hope of engaging that country’s support for his fallen nation.  When that proved impossible, due to the cessation of hostilities between the Turks and Russians, the Polish patriot went to France.

After a short stay in a debtors’ prison there, Pulaski decided to cast his fate with the American revolutionaries.  He landed at Marblehead, Mass., on July 23^rd, 1777.   After acquitting himself well as a volunteer at the battle at Brandywine on Sept. 11, 1777, General Washington conferred the rank of Brigadier General upon Pulaski.  Later that winter, Pulaski drew up the first set of regulations for the cavalry. He again proved himself against the British at Haddonfield, near Camden, N.J., but was dissatisfied with conditions in the cavalry.  The general faced not only a shortage of men and horses, but also dissension in the ranks—some subordinate officers chafed at taking orders from a foreigner.   Not wishing to be a source of discord, Pulaski resigned his commission as Commander of the Cavalry. 

Despite this setback, he soon presented his plan to Washington of an independent legion consisting of 68 cavalrymen and 200 infantry, in order to be of greater service to the fledgling American nation.  Washington accepted the idea and recommended it to Congress, which sanctioned it in March, 1778.  Known as the Pulaski Legion, the corps was one of the few detachments of the Revolutionary Army that was predominantly foreign in its composition; its history is also one of the bloodiest of the American Revolution.  The Legion’s banner inspired the poem, Hymn of the Moravian Nuns, written by the famous American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1825.

At Egg Harbor, N.J., Brigadier General Pulaski surprised the British in mid-October 1778, but not before 30 Legionnaires were killed.  The citizens of Charleston were about to capitulate to the British in mid-May 1779 when the commander and his Legion arrived in the nick of time to undo that sentiment.  During the siege of Savannah, the intrepid Pole rushed to the aid of French troops; in so doing he was wounded in the upper right thigh by grape shot.  The fallen hero was given the best medical attention, but he died two days later, on October 11, 1779, aboard the ship Wasp.   Whether  Pulaski’s remains were consigned to a watery grave or a an earthly one will probably always be a matter of conjecture.  Though historical records and skeletal injuries provide strong circumstantial evidence that he was interred beneath the monument eventually erected in his honor at Savannah in 1853, the inability to provide a DNA match through tests conducted June, 2005 doesn’t negate initial accounts that Pulaski was buried at sea. 

HISTORY OF THE PULASKI DAY HOLIDAY

The Polish Museum of America is the official site for the observance of Casimir Pulaski Day in the state of Illinois.  Casimir Pulaski Day is celebrated the first Monday in March every year.

The crusade to proclaim a “Casimir Pulaski Day” began with the 150^th anniversary of the General’s death in 1929.  Playing a pivotal role in this respect was Ignatius Werwinski of South Bend, Indiana.  Werwinski, an early benefactor of our museum, wrote prolifically to federal, state and local officials across the U.S., requesting that they commemorate the ultimate sacrifice Pulaski paid.  On June 26^th, 1929, President Herbert Hoover proclaimed the first General Pulaski Day in the U.S.  This precedent did not, of course, result in a permanent legal holiday.  On September 13, 1977, the 80^th General Assembly officially established the first Monday in March (close to Pulaski’s birthday) as Casimir Pulaski Day in the State of Illinois.  Illinois Governor at the time Daniel Walker then signed this statute into law two days later at the Polish Museum of America.   On March 3, 1986, in a formal declaration at the State of Illinois Building, then Governor James Thompson designated the first Monday in March as a state holiday in honor of this Revolutionary War hero.  Since 1987, the official State of Illinois observance for Casimir Pulaski Day has been held at the Polish Museum of America.  The highlight of the ceremony is the laying of a floral wreath by dignitaries before the massive oil painting Pulaski at Savannah, painted by Stanislaw Batowski in 1933.