Why is Pulaski called the father of the American cavalry?

Because Congress made him the Continental Army's first Commander of the Horse in September 1777, and he worked to build that arm and then raised his own legion of horse and foot.

What did Pulaski do at Brandywine?

On 11 September 1777, as the American army gave way, he led a countercharge with about thirty of Washington's guards that helped the Continentals withdraw. Soon afterwards Congress made him a brigadier general.

What was the Bar Confederation?

An armed league of Polish nobles formed in 1768 against Russian control of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Pulaski and his father were among its founders; it was defeated in 1772.

How did Casimir Pulaski die?

He was struck by grapeshot leading a cavalry charge in the allied assault on Savannah on 9 October 1779 and died aboard the ship Wasp, on 11 October according to his aide or on 15 October according to the ship's captain.

Where is Pulaski buried?

Remains moved in the 1850s from a plantation near Savannah lie under the Pulaski monument in Savannah. DNA work in the 2010s matched them to a Pulaski relative, though his aide had said he was buried at sea.

Was Casimir Pulaski an honorary US citizen?

Yes. A joint resolution of Congress, signed on 6 November 2009, proclaimed him an honorary citizen of the United States posthumously.

Casimir Pulaski: The Father of the American Cavalry

Q: Who was Casimir Pulaski?

He was a Polish nobleman and cavalry commander (1745 to 1779) who fought for the Bar Confederation in Poland and then for the American Revolution, where he became the Continental Army's first Commander of the Horse and raised Pulaski's Legion.

Death of Pulaski at Savannah, engraving, New York Public Library (cropped), via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Quick answer

Who was Casimir Pulaski?

Casimir Pulaski (Kazimierz Pułaski, 1745 to 1779) was a Polish nobleman and cavalry commander. He fought for the Bar Confederation against Russian control of Poland, defending Częstochowa in 1770 and 1771, and after its defeat went into exile. Recommended to George Washington by Benjamin Franklin, he fought at Brandywine in 1777, was made the Continental Army's first commander of cavalry, and raised Pulaski's Legion. Mortally wounded at Savannah on 9 October 1779, he died aboard ship a few days later. The United States made him an honorary citizen in 2009.

Casimir Pulaski lost his own country's war and helped win another's. He made his name as one of the boldest commanders of the Bar Confederation, the Polish nobles' rising against Russian control, and when that cause was crushed he went into exile, crossed the Atlantic and joined Washington's army. He fell leading a charge at Savannah at the age of thirty-four. Poland remembers him as a patriot; the United States made him one of its handful of honorary citizens.¹

Early life

Pulaski was born in March 1745, the son of Józef Pułaski, a nobleman who would be one of the founders of the Bar Confederation. Britannica gives his birth date as 6 March; the American Battlefield Trust gives 4 or 6 March, and the Pułaski Museum in Warka records that he was baptized on 6 March. Most sources place his birth in Warsaw, though the National Park Service names Warka on the Pilica. He was the middle of three sons, and he grew up in the privileged world of the Polish gentry.²

The Bar Confederation, 1768 to 1772

In 1768 Polish nobles formed the Confederation of Bar, an armed league against the Russian influence that dominated the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and its king, Stanisław August Poniatowski. Pulaski and his father were among its founders. Over the next four years the young Pulaski became one of its most active commanders, winning a string of small victories against Russian troops and distinguishing himself in the defense of Berdychiv in 1768.³

His most famous feat was the defense of the fortified monastery of Jasna Góra at Częstochowa, which the confederates seized in 1770 and held against the Russians through the winter of 1770 and 1771. In January 1771 Pulaski beat the Russian troops of General Ivan Drewicz there. The Polish Museum in Rapperswil notes that the victory was reported in western European newspapers.⁴ › Siege of Jasna Góra 1655

Painting of Polish noble cavalry with raised sabers and a red banner charging across snowy ground — Pulaski leads his horsemen at Częstochowa during the Bar Confederation, painted by Józef Chełmoński in 1875, a century after the events. Public domain

Then came the blow that ruined him. In late 1771 confederates tried to abduct King Stanisław August from Warsaw to their camp; the attempt failed, and Pulaski was accused of plotting to kill the king, a charge he denied and Britannica calls false. The Pułaski Museum dates the attempt to 3 November 1771, Britannica to October. The confederation lost its foreign support, and in the spring of 1772, as Prussian and Austrian troops entered Poland, Pulaski left Częstochowa and fled abroad.⁵

Exile and Franklin

His exile took him through the German lands and the Ottoman Empire to France, where he lived in poverty. In Paris he met Benjamin Franklin, the American commissioner, in December 1776 according to Britannica or in the spring of 1777 according to the American Battlefield Trust. Franklin recommended him to George Washington; the 2009 resolution of Congress quotes Franklin describing him as renowned throughout Europe for his courage and bravery. Pulaski sailed in June 1777 and landed in America on 23 July.⁶ › George Washington: the general who won America

Brandywine and the cavalry, 1777 to 1778

His first battle in America was Brandywine, on 11 September 1777. As the American army gave way, Pulaski led a countercharge with about thirty of Washington's guards that covered the retreat and helped the Continentals withdraw without a rout. Within days, on 15 September according to the National Park Service and the 2009 resolution of Congress, he was commissioned a brigadier general with the title of Commander of the Horse. The 2009 resolution of Congress goes further than the historians and credits his charge with saving Washington's life.⁷ › The Battle of Brandywine, 1777

Color map of Brandywine Creek with British and American troop movements — Map of the Battle of Brandywine, 11 September 1777, Pulaski's first battle in America: Knyphausen demonstrates at Chadds Ford while Howe's main column falls on the American right. US Military Academy, Department of History. Public domain

He fought at Germantown in October 1777 and through the winter campaign of 1777 and 1778. In 1778 he raised his own corps, Pulaski's Legion, a mixed unit of cavalry and infantry, and began to train it as an independent force.⁸ › Battle of Germantown, 1777

Painted portrait of Casimir Pulaski, a young man with a mustache in a dark fur-trimmed coat — Casimir Pulaski as painted by Jan Styka, reproduced on a postcard published in Lviv in the early twentieth century (National Library of Poland). Public domain

Charleston and Savannah, 1779

In 1779 the legion was sent south, and in May Pulaski helped defend Charleston, South Carolina, against a British raid. Over the summer his horsemen scouted and raided in the South Carolina backcountry, the kind of war of movement he had learned in Poland, and in the autumn they marched for Savannah.⁹

There French and American forces had laid siege to British-held Savannah, Georgia. On 9 October 1779 the allies stormed the British lines, and Pulaski, riding forward at the head of the cavalry, was struck by grapeshot. He was carried aboard the ship Wasp, which the National Park Service says was bound for Charleston, and died there.¹⁰ › Siege of Savannah, 1779

Illustration of soldiers attacking earthworks under fire, with flags and smoke — The allied attack on Savannah in October 1779, in an illustration by Arthur I. Keller (US National Archives). Public domain

Engraved 18th-century plan of Savannah on its river with the town grid, British works and the allied siege lines — Plan of the siege of Savannah and the failed French and American assault of 9 October 1779, from a survey by a British officer, published in London by William Faden in 1784. Public domain

Command style

Pulaski was a cavalryman first and last, at his best at the head of a charge, as at Brandywine, Charleston and Savannah. In Poland he had learned a war of raids and movement against a stronger enemy, and Britannica notes that his legion of horse and foot was built to use that experience of irregular warfare.¹¹

He lost his own country's war, and gave his life in another's.

Death and the mystery of his grave

Even the date of his death is disputed. His aide-de-camp testified that he died on 11 October 1779 and was buried at sea, and both the National Park Service, which places the burial near the mouth of the Savannah River, and the joint resolution of Congress in 2009 follow that account. A letter by the captain of the Wasp, supported by the widow of the man who made his coffin, puts his death on 15 October, with the ship at anchor in a river near Savannah, and says the body was brought ashore and buried on a plantation.¹²

In the 1850s remains from the plantation were moved to a monument to Pulaski in Savannah. When researchers exhumed them in the 1990s, the skeleton looked female in its pelvis and face yet matched Pulaski in age, height and a rider's wear on the hips. DNA from the bones, tested years later against a known Pulaski relative, matched, and the researchers concluded that Pulaski was most likely intersex, a man who did not fit binary definitions of sex in his biology.¹³

Legacy and memory

The Continental Congress resolved before the end of 1779 to raise a monument to him, and in 1825 the Marquis de Lafayette laid the cornerstone of the Pulaski monument in Savannah. Since 1929 Congress has recognized 11 October as General Pulaski Memorial Day.¹⁴

On 6 November 2009 the United States made him an honorary citizen by a joint resolution of Congress, one of only a few people ever so honored. Both the American Battlefield Trust and the National Park Service call him the father of the American cavalry, and in Warka, south of Warsaw, a museum bears his name.¹⁵

Read on with his countryman Tadeusz Kosciuszko, meet both in the Polish heroes of the American Revolution, or see what else happened on the day he died in 11 October in history.