Tadeusz Kosciuszko: Early Life and Service in the American Revolution
Born into a modest family of noble origins, Kosciuszko excelled in his military studies at the Royal Military Academy of Warsaw and drew the attention of King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who sent him to France for further education. He returned to Poland in 1774 but left only two years later for America, where he offered his services (including his engineering expertise) to the colonial forces fighting for independence from Great Britain. The Continental Congress appointed him as a colonel of engineers, and he initially worked to build fortifications in order to protect Philadelphia from British attack.
Did you know?
After reading the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Tadeusz Kosciuszko was so moved that he sought a meeting with its principal author, Thomas Jefferson. The two later became close friends, and maintained a correspondence for more than 20 years until Kosciuszko's death in 1817.
Kosciuszko was then sent to New York, where General Horatio Gates put Kosciuszko in charge of planning the defensive strategy for his army at Saratoga, whose defeat of the British forces under General John Burgoyne in October 1777 would prove to be a turning point in the Revolutionary War.
In 1778, General George Washington commissioned Kosciuszko to build the military fortifications at West Point, an important defensive position on the Hudson River. Considered impenetrable, the site eventually became the site of the U.S. Military Academy. By war’s end, Kosciuszko was made a brigadier general and received U.S. citizenship, along with a medal for his service to the Continental Army.
