His American and
Polish Campaigns
Born in 1746, in 1765 Kosciuszko enters the charter class of
the Knight’s School, the Polish Military Academy founded by King Stanislaw
August Poniatowski. He graduates in 1766 as a chorazy (an Ensign or First
Lieutenant) and stays on as an instructor. In 1769 he leaves for France and
further military studies. Returning to Poland only for a short time in 1774-5,
he sails from France for the Americas in the summer of 1776.
In America, a new social experiment is being attempted: the
revolution of the British Colonies against the most potent nation on earth. It
is a revolt which is being fought more on principle than passion. In
Kosciuszko’s decision to join the fight for colonial independence, national
pride was not an issue, rather the principle of freedom was. (The willingness
to join the fight for colonial independence was not unlike that of more recent
memory when in our own time people of all nationalities fought in the Spanish
Civil War.)
Philadelphia
In Philadelphia, Kosciuszko seeks a commission from the
Continental Congress. He is armed with a letter of recommendation from Prince
Czartoryski to Washington’s second-in-command, General Charles Lee. Although the
Continental Congress is the only authority in the Colonies, it is in a
financial quandary and its leadership is most precarious. Decisions are not
easily made. Fortuitously for Kosciuszko, however, the Congress fears that the
British fleet might attack the port of Philadelphia and so it begins to seek an
engineer who could help construct fortifications for the port’s defense. Thus
Tadeusz Kosciuszko receives a commission as a Lt. Colonel and is assigned to
the task.
Kosciuszko relishes the opportunity to employ in real terms
the lessons of his military training. But the fortification of the port of
Philadelphia is by no means all that compels the Congress to require the
services of a military engineer.
A look at the Colonies at the time shows a land bounded by
the Atlantic Ocean and criss-crossed by many rivers, navigable ones at that,
and many connecting lakes. These waterways can be used by the British to
deliver supplies and arms directly from England unencumbered. British troops
can travel up and down the Hudson River-Lake Champlain complex from New York
City to Montreal and vice-versa. Control of this route is especially critical,
since it can split the land forces of the upstart Colonies in two. How
desperate the Continental Congress must be to rely upon a young, untested
foreign officer who does not yet know the terrain involved.
Kosciuszko quickly plans the defenses of Philadelphia. He
builds Fort Mercer as the main fortification and erects palisades in the water
to canalize the English ship movement to areas near either shore where they can
be bombarded from the banks. He knows the value of being able to deliver
withering fire from covering barricades irrespective of the terrain involved.
The feared attack does not occur. Kosciuszko’s work is greatly admired.
Fort Ticonderoga
Kosciuszko’s reputation being established, he is next sent
to prepare the defenses of Fort Ticonderoga, situated right at the neck of Lake
Champlain-Hudson River access route. Should the British control this route then
their forces in Montreal and in New York City can support each other. Fort
Ticonderoga is a vital blocking point to their movements up and down this
waterway. The local topography is such that Sugar Loaf Hill overlooks the Fort.
Kosciuszko immediately tells the commanding general to man the hill with
artillery. He is countermanded by the fort commander who considered placement
of heavy guns there as unattainable because of the terrain.
The British under Burgoyne reach the Fort; a few days later
a British battery appears on the Hill, vindicating Kosciuszko’s judgment. The
American position becomes untenable.
The Battle of
Saratoga
The Colonial garrison is forced to retreat south towards
Albany. The new American general, General Gates, asks Kosciuszko to make a new
defensive line at a place of his choosing. Kosciuszko selects Bemis Heights on
the Hudson River, a most formidable position on the high ground, slightly south
of Saratoga. Time an again Burgoyne attacks unsuccessfully. Heartened, General
Gates selects Gen. Benedict Arnold to attack the British barricades redoubt.
The Americans take a redoubt which overlooks the British position. Burgoyne now
must retreat or surrender. He surrenders on October 17, 1777. This action marks
the first victory for the Upstart rebels over the British. It convinces France
to enter the war on the side of the Colonies.
Kosciuszko’s and the Continental Army’s success makes him
ponder, for here a citizen army defeated a highly trained professional army.
Could this be done elsewhere, particularly in his beloved Poland too?
Fortification of West
Point
Kosciuszko’s next major assignment is the fortification of
West Point. another developing blocking position. His defenses are brilliant.
Located on imposing sheer cliffs, they give a commanding view of the water and
interlocking artillery fire. David C. Arney, Head of the Department of
Mathematical Sciences at the United States Military Academy at West Point,
looking down from the location of the Kosciuszko monument at West Point, has
written of Kosciuszko’s work on the fortification of West Point in the
following terms:
Kosciuszko overlooks the river at its critical point, where
ships have to negotiate a sharp turn to pass up river. Kosciuszko’s background
of strong geometric mathematics skills and military training at the Warsaw
Military Academy gave him the tools to become an expert at designing and
building fortifications. That’s exactly what Washington had him do for the
headquarters at West Point. The fortification was so strong it could never be
breached without complete knowledge of its structure. Giving that structure to
the enemy British forces was what Benedict Arnold did to earn the label of
“traitor”.
As part of the fortification, Kosciuszko has an enormous
chain constructed to span the width of the Hudson. It is designed to remain
submerged and un-observable to unwary ships. At the right moment, it can be
raised above the water, stranding the ship and making it a sitting duck for the
American batteries. British ships never try to sail past West Point but
Kosciuszko’s already enormous credentials are further enhanced. While at West
Point, Kosciuszko is given a gift, a black slave, Agrippa Hull, to be his
personal body servant. He promptly releases the man, but Agrippa stays on to
serve him. Kosciuszko serves in the Continental Army for a further three years,
moving throughout the enormous southern campaign. No longer a staff officer, he
actually commands troops and is involved in hand to hand fighting. On one
occasion, four bullets tear his clothing, but none came in contact with his
flesh. He also sees many slaves, which reinforced his thinking about the
dignity of the common man. Following Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown and the
eventual and complete American success, Kosciuszko is promoted on July 15,
1784, much after the war, to Brigadier General. He is also awarded the order of
Cincinnatus by General George Washington.
How do Colonial leaders regard Kosciuszko? When General Gates,
the original hero of Saratoga is receiving accolades from a visiting doctor, he
says:
“Stop, Doctor, let us be honest. In
war, as in medicine, natural causes not under our control do much. In my case,
the great tacticians of the campaign were hills and forests, which a young
Polish engineer was skillful enough to select for my encampments.”
Likewise, George Washington writes:
“while I am on this subject, I would
like to take the liberty to mention that I have been informed that the engineer
in the Northern Army (Kosieski, I think his name is) is a gentleman of science
and merit. From the character I have had of him he is deserving of
notice.”
From his good friend Thomas Jefferson he receives the
following accolade
“He is as pure a son of liberty as I
have ever known and of that liberty which is to go to all and not to the few or
rich alone.”
An apt summary of the impact of Kosciuszko’s sojourn in
America is given in the following passage by Miecislaus Haiman in his book
Kosciuszko in the American Revolution (The Kosciuszko Foundation, New York,
1975, 198 pp.):
“The American Revolution ultimately
shaped Kosciuszko’s character. It deepened and widened his thoughts. It taught
him the practical meaning of these ideas which were inborn in him and which he
tried to fathom in theory in his youth. He was returning to Poland with an
important military experience, but, above all, with a new political and social
vision. His American experiences became the foundation of his future role in
Poland which so strongly involved all her subsequent history.”
Return to Poland
After eight years in America, Kosciuszko returns to Poland
in July 1784. Here he had observed a society where, except for black people,
everyone in the population was free. As a young man in France he had been
exposed to discussions of liberty for everyone and had read the writings of
French philosophers. In the Poland he returns to, power rests in the hands of
about 10% of the population, the szlachta and the magnaci, that is the noble estate,
while the bulk of the population are peasant serfs. These are obliged to work
so many days a week. in the fields of the owner of the estate to which they are
attached and from whom they receive a plot of land for their own use.
Kosciuszko, who himself returns to his family estate at Seichowicze, cuts the
obligations of the serfs on that estate by half.
He seeks a commission in the Polish Army but it is only in
1789, five years after his return, that the King, Stanislaw August Poniatowski
commissions him as a Major General. He is given an assignment under Prince
Jozef Poniatowski, the King’s nephew.
The Battle of
Dubienka
On May 3, 1791, the Polish Sejm, or parliament, enacts a new
constitution. Its liberal characteristics prompt some magnates, formally convened
at Targowice, to request Catherine the Great of Russia to intervene so as to
bring about the suspension of the new constitution. As the Russians advance
into Poland from the east, Kosciuszko is assigned to the defense of the part of
Poland that lies between the Rivers Wisla and Bug. His valiant efforts lead to
his being awarded the Virtuti Militari cross. As Prince Poniatowski
consolidates his forces towards Warsaw, Kosciuszko fights a rear-guard action.
At Dubienka he faces a superior Russian force of 20,000 to his 5,000. He
establishes an extremely comfortable defensive position between the River Bug
and the Austrian border, anchoring his line at either end in the built up area
of a village, each an obstacle which channels the attacking military force to a
place where it cannot act as a unit and can be dealt with piecemeal: in front
of him he had a bog, a swamp. He wins the professional admiration of the
Russian, General Kochowski, who faces him. On July 18, 1792, the Russians ford
the Bug and mount repeated frontal attacks which are repulsed. Then they
infringe Austrian sovereignty and attack from the rear forcing the Poles to
disengage and retreat. Quickly, the Russian general orders the burial of their
4,000 dead in the hope of concealing their number. The Polish losses are only
90 dead. Kosciuszko continues to fight a rear-guard action as he retreats
towards Warsaw.
On July 25, word reaches him that the King, fearing
senseless slaughter in the face of the numerically superior Russian forces, has
agreed to accede to the demands of the Targowice Confederation and to
capitulate to the Russians. On July 30, Kosciuszko, like many of his
counterparts, decides to tender his resignation. Though he is promoted to the
rank of major general and is called to an audience with the King, he declines
the request of the King to continue to serve, leaves Poland and journeys to
Leipzig.
The Kosciuszko
Uprising
On 23 November, 1793, the Second Partition of Poland is
promulgated. Poland now loses an additional 42% of its territory through
annexation by Russia and Prussia. This leaves only 29% of the pre 1773 state
nominally in Polish hands. Even this area is under the de facto occupation by
Russian troops. The Poles seethe and plan an uprising. Messages are sent to Italy,
to where Kosciuszko has traveled, telling him everything is ready for the
uprising and asking him to take leadership. He tells the delegation he will
accept but on one condition. Za szlachte tylko nie bede sie bic. (“For the
landed gentry alone I will not fight.”). Why was Kosciuszko chosen? The
landed gentry was divided and it would have been difficult to find another
leader, even Prince Jozef Poniatowski, who would be trusted. Kosciuszko was the
ideal person, he had the experience, and his ideals inspire.
Let me digress. Upon his return to Poland from the States,
Kosciuszko felt that what Poland needed was to organize a citizen’s army drawn
from all the estates and modeled after that of the United States. He worked out
a plan and submitted it to the King. It envisaged a Standing Regular Army, a
Standing Active Reserve, and a Local Militia, very much like the current
National Guard. It also envisaged a General Mobilization whereby every one
between the ages of 18 and 55 would be called to arms. All these people would
be fully trained. Though the King did not adopt the plan, fearing that the
Militia could easily be transformed into the private armies of the various
magnates, the plan does give insight into Kosciuszko’s thinking. So does the
oath he takes in Krakow on the Rynek Glowny on March 24:
“I, Tadeusz Kosciuszko swear in the
sight of God and the entire Nation that I will not use the authority and power
vested in me for private subjugation but only in the defense of the integrity
of the Nation’s borders, the recovery of its sovereignty and the granting of
universal freedom, so help me God and His Son’s innocent Sacrifice.”
For all his authority and power as leader of the
insurrection, he finds himself in a difficult economic, political and social
situation: the Polish armed forces amount to no more than 12-13,000 soldiers,
while the Russians have 21,000 troops stationed in what is left of Poland. The
peasants, to whom he offers relief from their obligations to the landed gentry,
flock to his banners. What kind of weapons can they be equipped with to allow
them to fight with a standard military force?. The genius of Kosciuszko is
evident in the solution: the kosa, or scythe. Though its blade is normally
mounted at a 90 degree angle to its handle, it is a very simple operation to
mount it so that it takes the form of a pike or long sharp bayonet. All one has
to do is to heat one end of it, straighten it up and put it back on the handle.
Moreover, those who carried it know how to use it for they have handled it from
the time they were old enough to go into the fields. This is Kosciuszko’s
secret weapon.
The Battle of
Raclawice
Kosciuszko’s objective is to reach Warsaw. In ten days he
has assembled a force of approximately 4,000 regular troops, 2,000 Kosinierzy,
or scythe-bearers and 12 cannons. On April 4, his way is blocked a short
distance at Krakow, at Raclawice, by a superior Russian force under General
Tormasow who initiates the attack. But the tactics improvised by Kosciuszko are
unlike any the Russians have experienced. The regular military procedure at the
time was to assemble the forces in very tight musket formations, shoulder to
shoulder and several rows deep, facing the enemy. In this manner the formation
would put out a high volume fire and continue to do so without pause as those
who had fired their musket fell behind to reload and the next row stepped
forward to fire. Kosciuszko, however, has learned in America unconventional
warfare, where one fires from behind a tree, from a ravine or from behind a
rock, in other words, where one takes advantage of natural features of the
landscape. Now he stealthily moves the Kosinierzy up a gully to within 200 to
300 yards of the Russian cannons. Then, leading the charge, he has them cover
the remaining distance at the double on a narrow front. They thus get to the
standing Russian formation without suffering many casualties and they capture
the cannons. In military terms it was only a tactical victory, but for the
Polish people it was also a great moral, social and political one.
One of the Kosinierzy, Wojciech Bartos, personally captured
a cannon. To mark his valor, Kosciuszko elevates him to the rank of chorazy and
gives him a new name, that of Wojciech Glowacki. He also decrees that the land
he tilled would be his in perpetuity and that he would be free of obligations
to his former landowner. As an additional mark of his appreciation for the
valor of the Kosinierzy, he dons the sukmana, or peasant russet frock coat. On
April 17, there is an uprising in Warsaw and on the 24 in Wilno.
The Battle of Maciejowice
The ebb and flow of the uprising continues through September
when on the 15th, Kosciuszko receives notice of a new threat in the form of a
fresh Russian force some 12-13,000 strong moving across the Wolyn between the
Bug and Wisla Rivers. Concerned that the 14,000 strong force under General
Fersen will link up with it, he plans to attack Fersen before the latter is
able to accomplish the link up. He decides to assume command personally and to
this end rides out from Warsaw to Maciejowice, covering the 120 km distance in
11 hours, changing horses repeatedly. Looking the situation over, he develops a
battle plan which calls for him to be joined by a force under General Poninski
some 40 km away. He sends an order to Poni�ski
to join him, but the messenger carrying the order is captured by the Russians.
Kosciuszko realizes what has happened and a second messenger is dispatched who
makes it through, but a delay of about six hours has occurred. Aware of this
Fersen. attacks. It is the 10th of October. Though Kosciuszko had the high
ground, he had only 7,000 troops to Fersen’s 12,000. At the back of his
position runs a swampy river, but the Russians move across it, attack
Kosciuszko’s right wing and crush it. Part of the Polish cavalry quits the
field while Kosciuszko entreats with them to regroup. They run into a Kossak
patrol and in a brief skirmish, Kosciuszko falls off his horse, is wounded and
then severely cut on the head. With that event the Kosciuszko insurrection
generally comes to an end. Taken prisoner, Kosciuszko is supposed to have said
as he regains consciousness, “jam Kosciuszko wody” meaning “I am
Kosciuszko, give me water.” The Russians propagandize that instead he has
said Finis Poloniae, the Latin for “Poland is finished,” Poles
counter with Jeszcze Polska nie zginela or “Poland has not yet been
lost,” words destined to become the first verse of Poland’s National
Anthem.
