Tadeusz Kościuszko — 280 years. Hero of two continents, but not a happy man
The last hero of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lived only four years of his adult life in his own home, although he fought all his life to have a homeland. Tadeusz Kościuszko was born on February 4, 1746, in Mereczowszczyzna. We are publishing archival material about one of the most famous natives of Belarus.
Kazimierz Wojniakowski. Lifelong portrait, date unknown.
Past events seem predetermined to us. For example, the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Once there was a first, it logically had to be followed by others — until the country disappeared. But we would have greatly surprised even King Stanisław August Poniatowski if we had predicted such a fate for his state after the first partition.
Few thought then that years of stagnation would have to be paid with independence. Especially since after the events of the 17th century, the gentry believed in the immortality of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Moscow Tsar then reached Vilnius, the Swedes — Brest, Khmelnytsky tore off Ukraine — but the country rose from the ashes.
Attempts to reform the state system were made from the mid-18th century. The Sejm of 1764, having elected Poniatowski as king, decided to limit gentry self-rule, strengthen central authority, establish tax collection, and create a modern army. To train officers, Poniatowski founded the Warsaw Cadet Corps — a "knightly school." It trained military engineers.
The king was the patron, and the "knightly school" was headed by Prince Adam Czartoryski, his cousin. Apparently, Senator Józef Sosnowski approached him with a request to enroll his less wealthy neighbor, 19-year-old nobleman Tadeusz Kościuszko, son of Tekla, owner of the Siechnowicze estate near Brest, into the elite academy.
Siechnowicze family
The Kościuszko family had been connected with Siechnowicze (now in the vicinity of Zhabinka) from the beginning. The patriarch of the family, boyar Konstantin Khvedarovich, is mentioned in documents in 1509, when the Grand Duke granted him Siechnowicze and three people: Kisiel, Perka, and Liachovič. "Kościuszko" is a diminutive of Konstantin.
It is known that Kościuszko had a brother Gurka (Ryhor) and a sister Zhdana, and that he became related to the Jagiellonians by marrying the widow Hanna Halshanskaya. They had twelve daughters and two sons — Ivan and Khvedar.
Kościuszko had such authority in the vicinity that his descendants, who, with the appearance of surnames, wrote themselves as Siechnowiczes, also used his name. The surnames Radziwiłł, Kiszka, Gashtold also originated from Baltic names of the founders of dynasties.
The Kościuszko family were Orthodox and apparently of Slavic origin. They were Polonized, along with all the gentry, in the early 17th century. In documents from 1622, Ryhor Kościuszko already signs in Polish. And Ryhor's son Jan abandons Orthodoxy.
Among Tadeusz's ancestors, there were no outstanding warriors. The turmoil of the 17th century was survived by his great-grandfather Aliaksandr Jan through peaceful pursuits. Especially since neither Muscovites, nor Swedes, nor Cossacks reached his estate.
The Kościuszko family fought among themselves. "On July 11, 1656, I took my property Siechnowicze from Pan Mikalai Teliatycki, my aunt's brother... and began farming, may God grant it happily!" — Aliaksandr Jan noted.
By the end of his life, in addition to Siechnowicze, he owned the villages of Kanatopy, Sciapanki, and Astraŭki, and a plot with a house in Bierascie. His son Ambrazhei was a cupbearer, Kobryn wojt, Brest land scribe, and distinguished himself in gentry battles: at a sejmik, he hit the future Vilnius voivode on the head. And he neglected the farm, so much so that his son, Liudvik Kościuszko, had to sell the family Siechnowicze, and then, at the end of his life, buy it back: owning the ancestral nest was a matter of honor.
Salei fled
Tadeusz's parents owned 31 serf families — not many — in the villages of Siechnowicze, Navasiolki, Sciapanki, and Kanatopy. Their surnames have been preserved in inventories: Tsypuryk, Loś, Niesciaruk, Hień, Yaŭkhimuk, Yaroshyk, Karobka, Kabiakha, Kot, Pryvitsień, Maziuk, Litvin. As well as Salei, Maksimiuk, Bielazoryk, Saliayuk, Amielianiuk, Matviayuk, Salivianiuk, Harasimiuk, Nichyparuk.
Medieval laws regarding serfs were in force in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. But no evidence of inhumane treatment of peasants by Liudvik Kościuszko has been preserved. On the contrary, when leasing the estate, he listed all the serfs' obligations so that the tenant would not increase them. The Siechnowicze peasants had relatively light corvée labor, but still, the peasant Andrej Salei fled from Siechnowicze with his five sons.
Populist Poniatowski
In the cadet corps, Kościuszko was nicknamed "Swede" — for his fiery temperament, like Charles XII.
Tadeusz almost challenged a voivode to a duel who had pushed one of the cadets during a dance and didn't apologize. The matter reached the king. He, after listening to Kościuszko, forced the voivode to apologize.
Tadeusz is 15 years old here. There is almost no information about this period of his life. The author of the portrait is unknown.
Poniatowski loved grand gestures. Meanwhile, he could not defend the reforms. In 1768, a new Sejm, under pressure from Russia, restored the "golden liberty." This deprived the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of governability, making its crisis endless. Empress Catherine II only had to wait for the European state to fall at her feet. The king, meanwhile, traveled to the Russian army camp and handed out awards to Catherine's generals. He hoped to outwit them...
Turning point
The First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth caught Kościuszko in France. He was studying art in Paris on a scholarship and was bored that he couldn't continue his military education. Tadeusz didn't suspect that drawing would feed him if military service didn't.
The army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth then numbered only 11,000 — it was important for Russia and Prussia that the neighboring country remained defenseless, so Kościuszko, who returned home in 1774, could not find service. This is where drawing came in handy: Tadeusz became a private tutor to the daughters of his benefactor, Senator Józef Sosnowski.
The impoverished youth Tadeusz was a protégé of Senator Józef Sosnowski. Sosnowski made his career by becoming a paid agent of the Russian envoy Repnin.
That Sosnowski was a Russian agent, but Kościuszko did not know that. His thoughts were occupied by his student, Ludwika Sosnowska. The 28-year-old teacher fell in love with her. But Sosnowski, during a card game with Prince Lubomirski, the Kyiv Voivode, arranged to marry Ludwika to his son Józef.
Ludwika Sosnowska, daughter of Senator Sosnowski. She and Kościuszko loved each other, but her parents did not consent to a marriage with the poor Tadeusz.
Later, that story grew into legends: with the nocturnal abduction of the bride, and Kościuszko being beaten by Sosnowski's servants. They even pointed out the bridge where the fugitives were caught. These cheap melodramas are copied in fresh online publications as well.
The princess and her daughters simply left for another estate. Kościuszko, not finding Ludwika, understood the hint. This could have happened in the autumn of 1775, when Sosnowski, thanks to Russian assistance, received the position of Field Hetman and became a person completely out of reach for a poor nobleman.
Later letters from Ludwika, Princess Lubomirska, to Kościuszko have been preserved. She recalls their personal date — May 21 (apparently, the day of their declaration), she recalls their gazebo. She never forgave her parents until the end of her life.
For Kościuszko, this story was a turning point. Shaken, he went abroad, not even dividing the inheritance with his brother after his mother's death.
Recruiter Beaumarchais
That same year, American colonies declared independence from the British Crown. France, a longtime rival of the English, established a trading house through which enormous quantities of weapons and ammunition were supplied to the Americans. The process was managed by official and poet Pierre Beaumarchais, author of the comedy "The Marriage of Figaro."
He delivered cannons and military ships to the New World, and recruited officers. Kościuszko must have entered service in the USA through him.
His engineering knowledge, acquired in the cadet corps, came in handy here. Kościuszko's weapon was not a saber, but a pencil, a level, and a shovel.
Hero with a pencil
Kościuszko almost never went on the attack (in seven years of war, he was wounded only once — by a bayonet in the buttock during an unsuccessful assault on a fort); he designed fortifications.
Now, earthen redoubts and trenches seem like trifles, but felled trees and dams destroyed by his team helped delay the British advance on Philadelphia, and the successful placement of redoubts helped win the Battle of Saratoga, which turned the tide of the war.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Arriving in Philadelphia in 1796, the exhausted Kościuszko instructed his secretary, Julian Niemcewicz, to find small, inexpensive, and quiet apartments. He chose this small room in Ann Relf's boarding house. He rarely left it, but he often had guests: Vice President Thomas Jefferson, Miami chief Little Turtle, and Mohawk chief Joseph Brant. The museum is open on weekends, admission is free. Photo: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE.
George Washington himself valued Kościuszko's expert opinion, giving him two pistols, but he could never remember his surname. (In one letter, he even called him "Cosiecki".) He was not the only one with this problem. A French engineer at West Point called him "Monsieur Kosti," and Chief Little Turtle told his Indians that he had become friends with a pale-faced man named "Kashcho." And Kościuszko gave the chief two pistols with the instruction to use them against anyone who wished to enslave his people.
During seven years of American service, Kościuszko earned the rank of Brigadier General, 12,000 dollars, and 500 acres of land (more than 200 hectares; let us remind you that a typical Belarusian dacha is 0.05 hectares).
Fatum still hung over his personal life. Kościuszko fell for girls of too high a status. At West Point, he courted a general's daughter, but she married Alexander Hamilton, a president of the USA in five minutes. However, Kościuszko was not deprived of female attention. In a letter to friends, he recalled how cheerful young ladies from the South, whom he entertained with music and recitation, made him paint their portraits. When the work was done, they asked him to paint them again — nude.
Why did he return from America, where he could have, especially after receiving an award for his service, settled his fate? "The call of the Homeland resonated in his soul," writes his biographer.
His own house
And in the Homeland, there was still no work for a "general of foreign armies." Kościuszko lived in Siechnowicze for four years.
A description of his estate has been preserved: "The house is old and thatched. To the right of the entrance to the hall is a large room, behind it another, divided into a bedroom and a dressing room. In the first room — a table and several wooden chairs, by the door — an old-fashioned wardrobe; in the bedroom — a bed in the middle and by it a small table, on which are books, an inkwell, and paper; a tray for serving coffee, carved by Mr. Kościuszko's hand from an apple tree, several plates and dishes of his own work made up all the furniture."
The mistress of Siechnowicze was Kościuszko's old aunt Zuzanna; the staff consisted of a footman and a coachman. "Behind the house was a garden, in it a couple of fruit trees and a hill overgrown with hazel... there was also a pond, overgrown with reeds, where wild ducks bred, which the owner did not allow to be disturbed." A plant labyrinth, fashionable at the time, was arranged in the garden. Dutch cheeses were produced on the estate.
This was the only house Kościuszko owned in his adult life. The rest of the time he lived in military camps and borrowed lodgings — whether they were the palaces of benefactors, places of imprisonment, or rooms designated for a private tutor.
"Am I not a Litvin?"
"Peasant" life ended in 1788, when the Sejm, later called the Four-Year or Great Sejm, gathered in Warsaw.
With their first resolution, the deputies increased the regular army to 100,000 men. Kościuszko entered service with the rank of Major General, with a salary of 12,000 zlotys a year.
He was enlisted in the Crown Army. In a letter to General Niesiołowski, Kościuszko passionately begged to be returned to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: "Am I not a Litvin, not your countryman?" Kościuszko complained about the arrogance of those he had to deal with in service in Poland: "There's no one to talk to... what Gascons!" He even threatened to "do something bad to himself."
But subsequent events pushed the "Litvin's" communication problems with the Poles into the background.
Russia plays its trump cards
On May 3, 1791, the Sejm adopted the Constitution of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The federal structure was abolished — the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became a single state. The "liberum veto" was abolished, and the separation of powers was introduced — executive power was given to the king.
In response, with the participation of Count Grigory Potemkin and the assistance of Catherine II, the Targowica Confederation was formed (in reality, it was formed not in this border town, but in St. Petersburg). The goals of its participants were different: "oligarch" Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki wanted to get even richer, patriot Seweryn Rzewuski longed for the return of "nobleman's liberties," but in fact, under its guise, Russia introduced a hundred-thousand-strong army into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Stanisław August could only oppose them with 37,000 soldiers. Positional victories at Zieleńce and Dubienka, where Kościuszko stopped General Mikhail Kakhovsky's corps, as well as at Mir, Zielwa, Voishki, Brest, only slowed down the Russian offensive, but could not stop it.
After the victory at Zieleńce, which could have inspired the inexperienced army, the king refused to come to the camp, as he was not sure that he would be provided with proper comfort and food...
When the army retreated behind the Bug and prepared for defense, the king himself joined the Targowica Confederation. Such was Stanisław August's tactic: to lead what you cannot resist, so as not to lose everything. But in the end, he lost everything and died in St. Petersburg... That same war ended with the second partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
French Mission
Kościuszko resigned in protest. After Dubienka, he was renowned as the country's best commander. In the Czartoryski estate, ladies symbolically placed a wreath of oak leaves, planted by King Jan Sobieski, on his head. In Lwów, women flocked after him, artists painted and sold his portraits. Princess Zamoyska promised him the hand of her daughter Hanna, but the confessor dissuaded her.
Kościuszko visited France again: patriots of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth sought allies to continue the struggle. From his American experience, Kościuszko learned that France was capable of helping fighters against "tyranny" with money and weapons. But Paris, no longer royal but engulfed in revolutionary chaos, was not concerned with him.
Kościuszko was against starting an unprepared uprising in 1794. But the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was dwindling. They were forced to swear allegiance to Russia, including through intimidation: the Uhlan commander Dabrachynski, who charged a pro-Russian general with a saber, was later found dead. The ideologues of the uprising, Hugo Kołłątaj and Ignacy Potocki, feared that soon there would be no one left to rebel.
Kościuszko arrived in Kraków and on March 15, 1794, declared the Act of Uprising of Citizens in the Main Market Square.
He himself became the "Supreme Commander of the National Armed Forces": to avoid the horrors of the terror of revolutionary France, it was decided to give leadership into one person's hands.
Routine of the uprising
The activity of the "Supreme Commander" was the governance of the state in extreme conditions. Kościuszko issued appeals, which he prepared together with his secretary and countryman Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz (he was also from near Brest; in Skoki, north of the city, the charming palace and park of the Niemcewicz family are preserved). With these universal acts, they tried to fill the gaps in the Constitution of May 3.
Thus, with the Połaniec Universal, Kościuszko declared the personal freedom of serfs and halved the corvée.
In another appeal, he promised assistance to the Orthodox clergy: "Now you are Moscow's slaves with the whole people, with us you will be revered priests," he wrote.
There is also a short, but insightful address to women: "Ornament of the human race!" Kościuszko called on them to inspire men to fight, because "such is the unfortunate human fate that no rights of the people can be achieved without unpleasant and dearly loved sacrifices..."
There was a clear political line regarding the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Kościuszko abolished the Supreme Lithuanian Council headed by Jakub Jasiński, which was formed in Vilnius. That Council began its activities by hanging Hetman Szymon Kossakowski, who sold himself to Russia, on a lamppost. It is unknown what Kościuszko feared more: the "Jacobinism" he witnessed in Paris, or the self-governance of the Grand Duchy. By creating the Central Deputation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under his control, Kościuszko also maintained excellent relations with Jasiński, whom he called "my dear general" in letters.
Who created the scythemen
The uprising of 1794 was not a "people's war". Kościuszko had at his disposal detachments of the regular army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He reformed it. Having seen auxiliary militia detachments in America, Kościuszko organized the scythemen. Peasant detachments armed with pikes and scythes became a legend of the 19th-century insurgent movement and an artistic image in Belarusian and Polish culture.
The scythemen's attack at Racławice decided the outcome of the battle in favor of the insurgents. A thousand Russian soldiers died — the peasants did not know the word "pardon" and finished off those who tried to surrender.
A diagram from the military treatise "The Science of Pikes and Scythes," a theoretical work from the time of the Kościuszko Uprising, dedicated to the scythemen.
The tactics of the insurgents in the Crown and Lithuania, by the way, differed. The Lithuanians preferred partisan raids across the Russian border. Michał Kleofas Ogiński, future author of the famous polonaise, went this way to Brasłaŭ, Minsk and Pastavy, Stefan Grabowski — all the way to Babrujsk. They destroyed garrisons and replenished their detachments with local gentry. The partisans had no problems with provisions and fodder: the region fed them.
Could Kościuszko have won?
In a different foreign policy situation, it might have been possible to save something from the state. But Russia made peace with Turkey, and this allowed Catherine II to transfer Alexander Suvorov from the Turkish border to Belarus...
We imagine that during the uprising Kościuszko remained a young man with chestnut wavy hair. But in 1794, he was already 48, starting to gray and bald. 48 years at that time corresponds to a biological age of about 60 in our times. This is how Kościuszko looked in the last years of his life.
The last city in Belarus that remained under the control of Kościuszko's forces was Hrodna. Broken detachments gathered here, and the Central Deputation moved from captured Vilnius. Here Kościuszko presented awards to the heroes of the insurgent battles. From here, the shattered forces retreated to defend Warsaw.
Kościuszko managed to repel Russian and Prussian troops from the capital, but was defeated near the town of Maciejowice and taken prisoner. Cornet Lysenko of the Kharkov Hussar Regiment, who wounded him with a saber without recognizing him, was later tried.
Kościuszko, however, was sent to St. Petersburg via Kyiv, Chernihiv, Gomel, Mogilev, Shklov, Orsha, and Vitebsk. He was transported secretly, under false documents.
Warsaw was taken by Suvorov on the second attempt, who massacred 20,000 people in the suburb of Praga.
The pistol did not fire
At Maciejowice, the wounded Kościuszko tried to kill himself. But the pistol he put in his mouth did not fire. In the Peter and Paul Fortress, he stopped eating — either intending to starve himself, or tormented by depression. Even Catherine II, who called Kościuszko a "beast," ordered him to be moved from the casemates to a palace behind a high fence.
The death of the insurgent leader in prison would have been a blow to the image of the "enlightened empress."
Catherine's son, the impulsive Paul I, freed Kościuszko, giving him 12,000 rubles, a fur coat, and a sleigh. In return, Kościuszko swore an oath to the emperor, thereby "redeeming" his comrades from captivity. It would be simplistic to think that Paul I released Kościuszko only because he acted contrary to his mother in everything. The emperor saw that Russia needed a détente.
Once in France, Kościuszko wrote a daring letter to the Tsar, renounced his oath, and even tried to return the money.
From "leader" to "fool"
For the next twenty years, Kościuszko, who was already over 50, sought his place in life. He visited America and lived in France. Politicians of subsequent generations tried to adapt him to their schemes.
Napoleon met with him twice, engaging him in the creation of Polish legions. But Kościuszko saw that the legions were being used for anything but the liberation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Corsican, who called Kościuszko "the leader of the north," changed the epithet to "a fool who overestimates his influence."
When Napoleon was sent to the island of Saint Helena, the Russian Emperor Alexander I took up the issue of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He met with Kościuszko and verbally agreed to restore the state with eastern borders along the Dnieper and Dvina. But in fact, a puppet Kingdom of Poland was created on part of the Polish lands.
Enlightenment of "Ruthenians" through "Polish spirit"
He spent his last years in Switzerland, with a friendly family. He taught young daughters to draw, but it was rather a sinecure for a 70-year-old warrior who had nowhere to settle down. According to his will, Kościuszko literally gave his heart to one of his students, Emilia.
In early October 1817, Kościuszko fell ill with "epidemic nervous fever" and died. His body, first buried in Solothurn, Switzerland, was later moved to Kraków, to the royal tomb.
Kościuszko's defeat, the demise of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, set in motion processes that resulted in the emergence of new nations in its vast territories: Belarusian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Polish — with their own political demands and aspirations for state-building. It is unlikely that this would have been possible if the political Pole Kościuszko had won. He believed that the enlightenment of "Ruthenians" was possible only if "the Polish spirit entered them." But fate decreed otherwise, and the 20th century corrected his ideas, showing that national liberation goes hand in hand with social liberation.
Nevertheless, in Kupala's programmatic "To be called people!" one can hear echoes of Kościuszko's universals. And Belarusians should not give away this great man to other peoples. He is a hero of America, France, Poland, and ours.
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Kazimierz Wojniakowski. Lifelong portrait, date unknown. The artist Wojniakowski was a participant in the 1794 uprising. This portrait is closest to reality: Kościuszko was miniature, subtle, with a delicate appearance. Artists of subsequent eras increasingly romanticized him, and in an American portrait of the 20th century, he is already a true giant. He appears as a progressive man. We see him not as a mustachioed nobleman in a kontusz (although many people wore such attire in that era) — he is dressed in the French style. A turban of light cotton fabric was very fashionable during the wave of fascination with the East, it was how people imagined a Persian turban. A feather was inserted in the front and fastened with an agraffe — a special buckle. A silk scarf and the absence of a wig demonstrate his democratic nature, but also his attention to contemporary fashion. The czamara he wears — a coat of gray cloth — is simple, noble, refashioned in a folk style. Kościuszko looks like a dandy. But not in a powdered wig, like Suvorov, not buttoned up, but a bit unbuttoned, casual — art critic Siarhiej Khareuski explained what to pay attention to in Kościuszko's portraits.
Karl Gottlieb Schweikart. Around 1802. Kościuszko is shown with the eagle of the Order of Cincinnatus — an organization of the best representatives of American society. Kościuszko was one of the first to receive this award. At that time, curly hair was in fashion. Curls were made with special tongs, heated on coals. This had to be done constantly — curls did not last more than a day or two. People of that era dedicated a lot of time to their appearance.
Artist unknown. Around 1850. This portrait is a transition from Romanticism to Symbolism. Kościuszko against the background of the sky, and it's not just the sky — a storm is approaching. Changes are coming. The belt that is in all portraits is a baldric. It supports the belt on which the saber is held. It was not easy to carry on the side — cavalry sabers were heavier than those in the previous era.
Arthur Szyk, Polish-American artist-illustrator. 1938. One of the miniatures painted to decorate the Polish pavilion at the World's Fair in New York in 1939. This is the style of Art Deco, Modernism. Such a decorative, lubok-style vision. The style was fashionable in the USA on the eve of World War II, but for Europe at that time it was already outdated, unmodern.
Kościuszko monument in Mereczowszczyzna, for which people raised money through crowdfunding. Photo: shutterstock, by Sergey Pozhoga.
The monument in Philadelphia was created by Polish sculptor Marian Konieczny in 1977. Kościuszko came here after his release from captivity. Photo: Wikimedia commons.
Kościuszko in Washington, D.C., the capital of the USA, with fortification plans in hand, surveying the area. Beneath the bronze general are four allegorical figures. In front, America — an eagle with spread wings, protecting a flag, shield, and sword. Behind, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth — an eagle desperately fighting a snake. On the sides — American soldiers and insurgents of 1794, a nobleman and a peasant. The monument was erected in 1910 with public funds. Photo: Wikimedia commons.
Original wooden sculpture in the town of Szydłów, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Poland. Photo: Wikimedia commons.
The monument in Detroit is a copy of the Kraków one, created in 1889. The copy was cast in 1978 for the 200th anniversary of the USA. Photo: Wikimedia commons.
The monument in Williams Park in St. Petersburg, Florida — a biker hangout. The park is home to urban homeless people. When passing Kościuszko, one must hold tightly to one's wallet. Photo: pinterest.com.
The monument in Chicago was created in 1904 with money from the local Polish community. The monument was created by Kazimierz Chodziński, a student of Matejko. 50,000 people gathered for the unveiling. Photo: shutterstock, by Mariusz S. Jurgielewicz.
Monument to Tadeusz Kościuszko at the West Point Academy, USA. Photo: Wikimedia commons.
This sign welcomes you at the entrance to the town of Kosciusko in Mississippi, named after our hero in the 1830s. Kosciusko made it into Norman Crampton's book "100 Best Small Towns in America." About 7,000 people live here. Among its famous natives is Oprah Winfrey, the renowned TV presenter. Photo: Wikimedia commons.
There is also a monument to Kościuszko in the town, who never visited Mississippi. Photo: andspeakingofwhich.blogspot.com.
Stenciled graffiti with the image of Kościuszko in the center of Minsk. Photo: jivebelarus.net.
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Grippi, the African Prince
Kościuszko's orderly in the American army was 18-year-old Agrippa Hull, or simply Grippi. Hull claimed to be from Massachusetts, but he lied that he was the son of an African prince. Once Kościuszko went on an inspection, and Grippi invited slaves from the neighborhood to his apartment for a party. He put on Kościuszko's parade uniform, wine flowed freely. Kościuszko returned unexpectedly. The guests jumped out the windows, and Grippi fell to his knees, wailing "Merci! Merci!" ("Have mercy! Don't punish!"). Kościuszko, laughing, extended his hand: "To grovel at someone's feet is beneath the dignity of an African prince!" After the war, Grippi returned home and bought land with the money he received from the US government. His portrait in old age has been preserved.
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Kościuszko's American Legacy
In 1798, Kościuszko, leaving the USA, wrote a will, ordering all his American property and money to be spent on the liberation and education of black slaves. He appointed Thomas Jefferson as the executor of his will. But the 77-year-old Jefferson entrusted the task to younger individuals. The case dragged on until 1852. The lion's share of the money went to lawyers. The remnants were paid to Kościuszko's relatives in Poland. As early as 1847, the property was valued at $43,504, but only $5,680 could be found. For the 19th century, even this was an enormous sum, but how much did the lawyers eat!
In his will, Kościuszko appointed American President Thomas Jefferson as the executor of his will. This portrait was painted by the insurgent's own hand.
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Mereczowszczyzna
Some biographers wrote that Tadeusz Kościuszko was born in Siechnowicze. However, at the time of his birth, Tadeusz's parents, Ludwik and Tekla, owned Mereczowszczyzna, which is near Kosava. The fact that young Tadeusz was baptized in Kosava, which is more than a hundred kilometers from Siechnowicze, also supports Mereczowszczyzna as his birthplace.
The palace that stands on the hill did not exist during Kościuszko's childhood. It was built by the wealthy entrepreneur Wandalin Pusłowski in the 19th century. He did not choose the location by chance.
The original estate in Mereczowszczyzna burned down, but it was preserved in a drawing by Napoleon Orda and was restored in the 2000s. Now it houses the Kościuszko Museum-Estate. His childhood years passed in these beautiful surroundings — a forest on the hill and a meadow in the valley.
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Kościuszko's personal unhappiness was the unhappiness of a man from a class-based era, when status and property held more significance than feelings.
The chosen profession of a soldier in a historical period that coincided with the hero's adulthood—wars, uprisings—also did not contribute to the peaceful creation of a family nest. With years, especially after wounds and imprisonment, illnesses set in. Kościuszko missed the period of his life when he could have started a family.
In financial matters, Kościuszko appeared as an altruist, raised on the ideals of the Enlightenment: his directive to dedicate his American property to the liberation of black slaves is a testament to this. He could not use the property that remained in his homeland on principle, having broken his oath to the Russian tsar. However, Kościuszko's lifestyle habits, described by contemporaries, lead to the conclusion of his soldierly modesty in everyday life, his disinclination to accumulation and luxury. He had enough to live on.
What language did Kościuszko speak?
Although the family was Polonized, and Kościuszko used Polish in his life and correspondence, he "certainly knew how to communicate with peasants, as any nobleman living among Russian people does," noted Kościuszko's biographer Tadeusz Korzon.
Kościuszko's body was first buried in Switzerland, then moved to Kraków and laid in the Wawel Cathedral, next to the kings. His heart, which he bequeathed to his last student, Emilia Cejtner, was also transferred by her descendants to Poland; the urn containing it is in the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Kościuszko's internal organs, removed from the body during embalming, are buried in the cemetery in Zuchwil (Switzerland).
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Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko
(1746, Mereczowszczyzna, Belarus — 1817, Solothurn, Switzerland) — leader of the 1794 uprising, national hero of Belarus, Poland, and the USA. Participant in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's struggle against Russia and Prussia, and the American War of Independence.
Graduated from the Cadet Corps in Warsaw, studied in France. Upon returning to his homeland, he was a private tutor to Senator Sosnowski's daughters. Not having received consent for marriage with Ludwika Sosnowska, in 1776 he enlisted in the US army. As a military engineer, he was involved in the construction of fortifications, including Fort West Point, the commander-in-chief's headquarters. In 1783, he received the rank of Brigadier General.
From 1784–1789, he lived on his estate in Siechnowicze. In 1789, he entered the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the rank of Major General. Participant in the war with Russia. Author of the victory at Dubienka: with 5,300 soldiers, he stopped the 25,000-strong corps of General Mikhail Kakhovsky. After the surrender, he resigned.
In Leipzig and Paris, he sought support for further struggle against the occupation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. On March 24, 1794, in Kraków, he declared an uprising and became the "Supreme Commander" of the insurgent forces. Won the Battle of Racławice (April 4), issued the Połaniec Universal, in which he granted civil rights to serfs. Defended Warsaw against Russian and Prussian troops. In the Battle of Maciejowice (October 10), he was wounded and taken prisoner.
Released by Emperor Paul I. In 1797–1798 he visited the USA. Afterwards, he lived in France. He did not get along with Napoleon, settled near Paris, and distanced himself from politics. Later, he lived in Vienna (Austria) and Solothurn (Switzerland), where he worked as a private tutor. Died on October 15, 1817.