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After surviving numerous bloody campaigns against Russia, Count Casimir Pulaski retired to France in 1777, bitterly disappointed and deeply depressed at Poland's failure to defeat her foes.
In Paris Pulaski met Benjamin Franklin, who was recruiting volunteers to fight in America's War of Independence. Mindful that England had recommended that Poland be partitioned by her hostile neighbors in 1772, Pulaski enthusiastically responded to Franklin's plea for assistance. In his letter of introduction to Washington, Franklin wrote of Pulaski as "an officer famous throughout Europe for his bravery and conduct in defense of the liberties of his country against ... great invading powers".
While awaiting his formal appointment by Congress, Pulaski was invited by Washington to serve on his staff during the Battle of Brandywine in September, 1777. Pulaski's performance during this baptism of blood in America earned him a commission as Brigadier General of the entire American cavalry.
In 1779, Pulaski was ordered to join General Lincoln in the South to help recapture Savannah. After French General D'Estaing, leader in the attack on the southern capital, fell wounded, Pulaski is reported to have rushed forward to assume command and raise the soldiers' spirits by his example and courage, only to be mortally wounded himself. Pulaski was named the "Father of American Cavalry", and remains one of the well known figures of the American Revolutionary War. There is hardly a state in America without a county or town, street or square, monument or tablet, school or highway named in grateful memory of General Casimir Pulaski. |
