PULASKI DAY TO BE OBSERVED VIRTUALLY
CHICAGO, IL -- Celebrate Pulaski Day virtually with the Polish Museum of America (PMA) on Monday, March 7, 2022. Top officials from national, state, county, and city governments and leaders of Polonian organizations and institutions will observe the State of Illinois annual recognition of the Polish American community by honoring the Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski. Speakers will include Polish Ambassador Marek Magierowski; Consul General of Ukraine in Chicago Serhiy Koledov; Mayor Lori Lightfoot; Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs; Frank Spula, National President of the Polish American Congress; Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas; Judge Aurelia Pucinski and State Representative Delia Ramirez. The program will feature performances by Mirosława Sojka-Topór, Kamil Bundyra, the Academy of Music of the Paderewski Symphony Orchestra, and Tatra Mountains Cultural Foundation Ensemble, along with filmed presentations, and conclude with the traditional wreath-laying ceremony at Stanislaw Batowski’s painting of Pulaski at Savannah. The program begins promptly at 10 a.m. and will be streamed live on the PMA website: www.PolishMuseumOfAmerica.org.
General Kazimierz (Casimir) Pulaski (b. Warsaw, Poland, March 6, 1745 – d. near Savannah, Georgia, October 9-10, 1779) is recognized as the “Father of the American Cavalry.” He offered his services as an experienced military leader to the American Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. “I came to hazard all for the freedom of America,” stated Pulaski in a letter to the Congress. Even before he was officially commissioned by Congress, Pulaski joined the American Army as a volunteer. At Brandywine, in 1777, he greatly distinguished himself by leading a daring attack against the British, thereby saving the retreating American Army.
At the insistence of General George Washington, Pulaski was made a Brigadier General and the first Commander of the American Cavalry. He established the Pulaski Legion, a corps of Frenchmen, German Hessians, and Poles, who were instrumental in saving the City of Charleston, South Carolina, from British occupation in 1779. In October of 1779, at the age of 34, General Pulaski paid the ultimate price for freedom: he died from mortal wounds received while leading a cavalry charge in Savannah, Georgia. The General’s mortal remains were ceremoniously reinterred at the Pulaski Monument at Monterey Square in Savannah, GA in October of 2005. Posthumous honorary US citizenship was granted to General Pulaski in 2009.
In 1977, Illinois made Casimir Pulaski Day an official state holiday. Join friends and supporters of the PMA as your representatives in government celebrate the commitment of Polish Americans to liberty and justice for all in the United States of America.
