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Today's question came when a friend noticed online that school children in Illinois still get the
first Monday in March off for something called Pulaski Day, and another person asked what's
Pulaski Day? Well you know that's a great question for the History Guy. And while they would take
more than five minutes of history to talk about all the things that Casmir Pulaski accomplished,
I can, in five minutes of history, help you answer that question the next time it comes up.
Casimir Pulaski was a nobleman born in Poland in 1745. He grew up steeped in the cavalry
tradition of the great Polish Empire, but in the 18th century Poland was a nation in decline,
and struggling to maintain its independence against the influence of more powerful
European states nearby, the Russians, the Austrians and the Prussians. In 1767,
Pulaski joined a rebellion against the polish emperor Stanislaw of the Second, who was seen as
being a puppet of the Russians. He spent the next five years fighting a civil war, mostly against
foreign troops that were supporting Stanislaw. In that time he gained a reputation throughout
Europe as a great cavalry commander and became pretty much a folk hero in Poland for fighting
for Polish independence. But he had chosen the losing side facing overwhelming numbers.
By 1772 the rebellion had been defeated and Casmir Pulaski found himself in exile from his homeland.
By 1777, Casmir Pulaski found himself in Paris, where he made the acquaintance of Benjamin
Franklin. Franklin was well aware of Pulaski's military reputation but he also saw the civil
war in Poland as being a fight for independence and freedom, very like the fight that was going
on in the American colonies. And so he convinced Casimir Pulaski that he should cross the ocean,
and join George Washington and the Continental Army in the fight against the British crown.
Pulaski arrived in Massachusetts in July of 1777 and immediately wrote to George Washington,
asking for a commission in the army. In the letter he romantically said,
“I came here where freedom is being defended, to serve it, and to live or die for it”
Washington was impressed with Pulaski's military reputation, and his horsemanship skills. But a
commission in the army required an act of the Continental Congress.
Pulaski was still waiting for that commission when he joined George Washington in September
of 1777 at the Battle of Brandywine Creek. The Continental Army fought well at Brandywine,
but was eventually outflanked by the British and forced to retire. And it was there that Casimir
Pulaski showed his value. Reconnoitering with some of Washington's bodyguards, he saw that the
British were engaging in a flanking maneuver that would cut off the Continental Army's retreat. And
so with Washington's permission, he gathered the available troops and engaged in a daring cavalry
charge that caught the British by surprise, and secured the army's escape. Had he not done so,
there's a very good chance that the British would have cut off and captured most of the
Continental Army, including almost certainly George Washington himself. And had that happened,
there's a very good chance that the entire rebellion would have collapsed. And so,
were it not for Casimir Pulaski, there might not be a United States of America.
If you look up Casimir Pulaski, one of the most common things that you will find is that he is the
father of American cavalry. Well what does that really mean? When Pulaski arrived in Philadelphia,
the Continental Army didn't really have cavalry. Its few mounted troops were dispersed throughout
the army, they had little discipline, no training and there was no doctrine in how to use
them in battle. After his heroics at Brandywine, Washington convinced the Continental Congress to
commission Casimir Pulaski, a brigadier general, and commander of the Horse. Pulaski immediately
set about reforming the Continental Army's cavalry, and eventually created his own cavalry
unit, Pulaski's Legion. Which the British thought was the best cavalry unit in the Continental Army,
which served as a model for other cavalry units. And in doing all that he literally wrote the book,
on how to train and use cavalry in combat. And while we never really had enough cavalry
during the revolution to impact the outcome, Pulaski's doctrine did impact how we fought
a war a generation later, the US Civil War. And in fact his doctrine still impacts the way that
we use modern air and armored cavalry today. So when we say, Father of American Cavalry,
we mean he literally wrote the book on how the American army uses cavalry. So Casmir Pulaski
saved the Continental Army and George Washington and he's the Father of American Cavalry but
there's a third reason that you should remember the name Casmir Pulaski. On October 9th of 1779,
while leading Pulaski's Legion in the siege of Savannah, Pulaski was hit by grapeshot from a
cannon and died of infection a few days later. When he came to America in 1777,
he told George Washington that he was willing to live or die in the cause of freedom,
and he proved that with his final sacrifice. This was not a man born to our cause,
it was a person who chose it. Who didn't have to and yet who believed in it so much that he
sacrificed his very life in the cause of Liberty. And is there a better definition of a hero?
And of course one of the biggest reasons that we recognize Casimir Pulaski Day is that it
celebrates the heritage of America's nearly 10 million citizens of Polish descent. For a
Polish immigrant, Casimir Pulaski, a hero both in Europe and the United States, the man who fought
for freedom on two continents, represents both the past and the future. And he represents the
immigrant experience, he came across the ocean to a strange land, where he barely even spoke
the language, and found success. Too, lionizing a Polish American Hero, was a way to fight some
of the bigotry and discrimination that Polish immigrants have faced in the United States.
And while many people don't know the story, it's not like Casimir Pulaski has been forgotten in
America. There's seven US states that have Pulaski counties, several towns named after him, numerous
roads, parks, schools. There's a lot of monuments. This four hundred twenty-five foot long ballistic
missile submarine is named after Casimir Pulaski. He's still celebrated usually either in October,
coinciding with the date of his death, or March coincided with the date of his birth in several
states where there's large polish American populations. And the next time one of those
comes up and someone says who's Casimir Pulaski? Now you'll be able to answer the question.
I'm the History Guy. If you enjoyed this five minutes of history and what five
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