Kościuszko, Tadeusz

Autor: Kościuszko, Tadeusz
Rok: 1746-1817

Biogr./Hist. údaje: Polský generál, pevnostní inženýr, proslavil se v bojích Ameriky za nezávislost.
Zdroj: Autoritní databáze Národní knihovny ČR

Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko (Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kościuszko; February 4 or 12, 1746 – October 15, 1817) was a Polish military engineer and a military leader who became a national hero in Poland, Belarus, and the United States. He fought in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's struggles against Russia and Prussia, and on the American side in the American Revolutionary War. As Supreme Commander of the Polish National Armed Forces, he led the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising.Kościuszko was born in February 1746 in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in a village that is now in Belarus; his exact birthdate is unknown. At age 20, he graduated from the Corps of Cadets in Warsaw, Poland, but after the outbreak of a civil war involving the Bar Confederation in 1768, Kościuszko moved to France in 1769 to pursue further studies. He returned to Poland in 1774, two years after its First Partition, and took a position as tutor in Józef Sylwester Sosnowski's household. After Kościuszko attempted to elope with his employer's daughter and was severely beaten by the father's retainers, he returned to France. In 1776, Kościuszko moved to North America, where he took part in the American Revolutionary War as a colonel in the Continental Army. An accomplished military architect, he designed and oversaw the construction of state-of-the-art fortifications, including those at West Point, New York. In 1783, in recognition of his services, the Continental Congress promoted him to brigadier general.Returning to Poland in 1784, Kościuszko was commissioned a major general in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Army in 1789. After the Polish-Russian War of 1792 had resulted in the Second Partition of Poland, he organized an uprising against Russia in March 1794, serving as its Naczelnik (Chief). Russian forces captured him at the Battle of Maciejowice in October 1794. The defeat of the Kościuszko Uprising that November led to Poland's Third Partition in 1795, which ended the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's independent existence for 123 years. In 1796, following the death of Tsaritsa Catherine the Great, Kościuszko was pardoned by her successor, Tsar Paul I, and he emigrated to the United States. A close friend of Thomas Jefferson, with whom he shared ideals of human rights, Kościuszko wrote a will in 1798 dedicating his American assets to the education and freedom of U.S. slaves. He eventually returned to Europe and lived in Switzerland until his death in 1817. The execution of his will later proved difficult and the funds were never used for the purpose he had intended.