Tadeusz Kosciuszko

Tadeusz Kościuszko was a Polish-Lithuanian military engineer, statesman, and national hero who fought for the independence of both Poland and the United States. He graduated from the Corps of Cadets in Warsaw and then studied in France. He joined the American Revolutionary War in 1776 and became a colonel in the Continental Army. He designed and built several fortifications, including those at West Point, New York. He was promoted to brigadier general by the Continental Congress in 1783. He returned to Poland in 1784 and became a major general in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Army. He participated in the Polish-Russian War of 1792 and was awarded the Virtuti Militari, Poland's highest military decoration. He led the Kościuszko Uprising against the Russian Empire in 1794, but was captured and imprisoned. After his release in 1796, he moved to the United States, where he was given a large estate by Congress. He later moved to France and then to Switzerland, where he died in 1817. He was buried in Kraków, Poland, and a mound was erected in his honor. He is regarded as a national hero in Poland, the United States, Lithuania, and Belarus. He was a champion of human rights, democracy, and social justice. He freed his own serfs and urged others to do the same. He also supported the emancipation of African Americans and Native Americans in the United States. He was a friend of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Napoleon Bonaparte. He inspired many artists, writers, and poets with his life and deeds.