Where Is Poland? | Tadeusz Kościuszko

Chapter 5

Tadeusz Kościuszko

One of the first political emigrants of the partition era, Tadeusz Kościuszko arrived in America to take part in the Revolutionary War. Much later, his last will once stood a certain chance of changing American history, paving the way for a very different scenario of the abolition of slavery. Read More

The Kościuszko Uprising of 1794, as represented in the painting by Jan Chełmoński, The Prayer before the Battle, 1906. Photo: public domain.

Tadeusz Kościuszko

Kościuszko arrived in America in 1776, some three years after the first partition of Poland. He immediately joined the American Revolutionary War and very soon made a name for himself as a brilliant engineer and builder of fortifications.

He designed the blueprints for West Point, a key American military fortress, and his ingenious plan for the Battle of Saratoga was one of the turning points of the American Revolution.

Kościuszko eventually spent eight years in America, which became his second homeland. On returning to Poland Kościuszko remained an engaged citizen and officer. In 1794, he led the nation in an insurrection against the Russian Empire. Wounded and imprisoned, he watched as the Polish Commonwealth was erased from the map of Europe in the third and final partition of 1795.

Released from the Tsar's prison, he once again crossed the Atlantic. There, in 1798 he authored a document that, as some historians suggest, might have changed the course of American history. Kościuszko's last will and testament stipulated that the proceeds of his American estate be spent on freeing and educating African-American slaves, including those of his friend Thomas Jefferson. However, Jefferson was named as the will's executor, but refused its executorship. As such, the provisions of the document were never implemented.

Kościuszko spent the last twenty years of his life in France and Switzerland.