Editing Tadeusz Kościuszko (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Tadeusz Kościuszko w wieku chłopięcym.PNG|thumb|left|Kościuszko, aged 15, in 1761]]

Kościuszko was born in February 1746 in a manor house on the [[Mieračoŭščyna|Mereczowszczyzna]] estate near [[Kosava, Belarus|Kosów]] in [[Nowogródek Voivodeship (1507–1795)|Nowogródek Voivodeship]], [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], a part of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]].<ref name="Herbst, 1969 p. 430." /><ref>[[#WorldPol|Institute of World Politics, 2009]], article.</ref> His exact birthdate is unknown; commonly cited are 4 February<ref name="Herbst, 1969 p. 430.">[[#Herbst|Herbst, 1969]] p. 430.</ref> and 12 February.{{#tag:ref|Alex Storozynski, in his 2009 biography of Kościuszko, notes that the "twelfth is generally used", and that Szyndler (1991:103) discusses theories about Kościuszko's birthdate.<ref>[[#Szyndler|Szyndler, 1994]], p. 103.</ref><ref>[[#Storozynski2009|Storozynski, 2009]], p. 13.</ref>|group="note"}}

Kościuszko was the youngest son of a member of the ''[[szlachta]]'' (untitled Polish nobility), Ludwik Tadeusz Kościuszko, an officer in the [[Military of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Army]], and his wife [[:File:Kołtonowski Tekla Kościuszkowa.jpg|Tekla Ratomska]].<ref name="Herbst431">[[#Herbst|Herbst, 1969]] p. 431.</ref> The family held the Polish ''[[Roch III coat of arms]]''.<ref>[[#Szyndler1991|Szyndler, 1991]], p. 476.</ref> At the time of Tadeusz Kościuszko's birth, the family possessed modest landholdings in the Grand Duchy worked by 31 peasant families.<ref name="Lituanus" /><ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 2.</ref>[[File:Maračoŭščyna, Kaściuška. Марачоўшчына, Касьцюшка (L. Bichebois, 1848).jpg|thumb|Mereczowszczyzna manor where Kościuszko was born in 1746]]

Tadeusz was baptized in the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] church, thereby receiving the names ''Andrzej'', ''Tadeusz'', and ''Bonawentura''.<ref>[[#Szyndler1991|Szyndler, 1991]], p. 27.</ref><ref name="krol">[[#Krol|Krol, 2005]], Public address.</ref><ref>[[#Gardner|Gardner, 1920]] p. 317.</ref><ref>[[#Kajencki|Kajencki, 1998]], p. 54.</ref> His paternal family was originally [[Ruthenians|Ruthenian]]<ref name="Lituanus">[[#Cizauskas|Cizauskas 1986]], pp. 1–10.</ref> and traced their ancestry to Konstanty Fiodorowicz Kostiuszko, a courtier of [[List of Polish monarchs|Polish King]] and [[List of rulers of Lithuania|Grand Duke of Lithuania]] [[Sigismund I the Old]].<ref>[[#Korzon|Korzon, 1894]], p. 135.</ref> Kościuszko's maternal family, the Ratomskis, were also Ruthenian.<ref name="Новости">[[#Новости|''Новости'' [''Novosti''], 2009]], p. 317.</ref>

[[File:Warszawaio6.jpg|thumb|[[Warsaw]]'s [[Kazimierz Palace]], where Kościuszko attended the [[Corps of Cadets (Warsaw)|Corps of Cadets]]]]
His family had become [[Polonization|Polonized]] as early as the 16th century.<ref>[[#Aristocrats|100 Great Aristocrats]], Essay.</ref> Like most Polish–Lithuanian nobility of the time, the Kościuszkos spoke [[Polish language|Polish]] and identified with [[Culture of Poland|Polish culture]].<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 27.</ref> Kościuszko also, as was common for Polish nobility in the region,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-05-15 |title=Oczywista Nieoczywistość- jedna macierz, wiele nacji… - Jaworzno - Portal Społecznościowy - jaw.pl |url=https://jaw.pl/2021/05/oczywista-nieoczywistosc-jedna-macierz-wiele-nacji/ |access-date=2023-11-05 |language=pl-PL}}</ref> clearly stressed his attachment to the multiethnic Identity of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in later letters.<ref name="Kuolys">{{cite web |last1=Kuolys |first1=Darius |title=Tadas Kosciuška |url=http://www.xn--altiniai-4wb.info/index/details/971 |website=Šaltiniai.info |publisher= |access-date=2 October 2023 |language=lt |quote="Jei tai jūsų nesuminkštins ir neiškelsite mano reikalo Seime, kad galėčiau grįžti, aš pats turbūt, Dievas mato, pasidarysiu sau ką nors bloga, nes pyktis mane ima dėl to, kad būdamas iš Lietuvos tarnauju [Lenkijos] Karalystei, kai jūs trijų generolų neturite. (...) Lietuva! Mano kraštiečiai ir gentainiai! Gimiau jūsų žemėje, nuoširdžia meile mano tėvynei atsišaukia manyje ypatingas palankumas tiems, tarp kurių pradėjau gyvenimą.}}</ref> For example, in 1790 Kościuszko wrote "If this does not soften you and you do not raise my case in the Sejm so that I can return, I myself will probably, God sees, do something bad to myself, as I am angry because being from Lithuania I serve the Kingdom [of Poland] when you do not have three generals", while during the Uprising of 1794 Kościuszko wrote "Lithuania! My countrymen and tribesmen! I was born in your land, sincere love for my homeland evokes in me a special favor for those among whom I began my life".<ref name="Kuolys"/>

In 1755, Kościuszko began attending school in [[Liubeshiv|Lubieszów]] but never finished due to his family's financial straits after his father's death in 1758. King [[Stanisław August Poniatowski]] established a [[Corps of Cadets (Warsaw)|Corps of Cadets]] (''Korpus Kadetów'') in 1765, at what is now [[University of Warsaw|Warsaw University]], to educate [[Officer (armed forces)|military officers]] and government officials. Kościuszko enrolled in the Corps on 18 December 1765, likely thanks to the [[Czartoryski|Czartoryski family's patronage]]. The school emphasized military subjects and the [[Liberal arts education|liberal arts]],<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 28.</ref> and after graduating on 20 December 1766, Kościuszko was promoted to ''[[chorąży]]'', a military rank roughly equivalent to modern [[lieutenant]]. He stayed on as a student instructor and, by 1768, had attained the rank of [[Captain (armed forces)|captain]].<ref name="Herbst431" />

===European travels===
In 1768, civil war broke out in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, when the [[Bar Confederation]] sought to depose King Stanisław August Poniatowski. One of Kościuszko's brothers, Józef, fought on the side of the insurgents. Faced with a difficult choice between the rebels and his sponsors—the King and the Czartoryski family, who favored a gradualist approach to shedding Russian domination—Kościuszko chose to leave Poland. In late 1769, he and a colleague, artist [[Aleksander Orłowski]], were granted royal scholarships; on 5 October, they embarked for Paris. They wanted to further their military education. As foreigners, they were barred from enrolling in French military academies, and so they enrolled in the [[Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture|Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture]].<ref name="Herbst431" /> There Kościuszko pursued his interest in drawing and painting and took private lessons in architecture from architect [[Jean-Rodolphe Perronet]].<ref>[[#Gardner|Gardner, 1942]], p. 17.</ref>{{#tag:ref|Sketches from Kościuszko's hand still survive and are guarded as national treasures in Polish museums.|group="note"}}

Kościuszko did not give up on improving his military knowledge.  He audited lectures for five years and frequented the libraries of the Paris military academies. His exposure to the French [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], along with the [[Toleration|religious tolerance]] practised in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, strongly influenced his later career. The French economic theory of [[physiocracy]] made a particularly strong impression on his thinking.<ref name="Storozynski pp. 17–18.">[[#Storozynski2009|Storozynski, 2009]], pp. 17–18.</ref> He also developed his artistic skills, and while his career took him in a different direction, all his life he continued drawing and painting.<ref name="Herbst431" /><ref>[[#NPS2009|NPS, 2009]], Essay.</ref>

In the [[First Partition of Poland|First Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] in 1772, [[Russian Empire|Russia]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], and [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]] annexed large swaths of Commonwealth territory and gained influence over the internal politics. When Kościuszko returned home in 1774, he found that his brother Józef had squandered most of the family fortune, and there was no place for him in the Army, as he could not afford to buy an officer's commission.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 32.</ref> <!--He also had to deal with a legal dispute involving a brother.<ref name="Herbst431"/> "unimportant, commenting out per FAC review – can be expanded perhaps one day" --> He took a position as tutor to the family of the [[Magnates of Poland and Lithuania|magnate]], [[Voivode|province governor]] (voivode) and [[hetman]] [[Józef Sylwester Sosnowski]] and fell in love with the governor's daughter [[Ludwika Sosnowska|Ludwika]].{{#tag:ref|After he returned to Poland from America and sought a Polish Army commission, the then-Princess Lubomirska—she had been forced by her father to marry into the higher nobility—urged the King to offer Kościuszko a commission.  When he went to Warsaw in the summer of 1789 to pursue the matter, he encountered her at a ball.  As his friend [[Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz]] later recounted, "The meeting was so emotional [for both] that they were unable to speak to each other; each moved away to a different corner of the ''[[Drawing room|salon]]'' and wept."<ref>[[#Makowski|Makowski, 2013]], p. 14.</ref> In 1791, he sought to marry Tekla Zurowska, but again met paternal opposition.{{sfn|Bain|1911|p=914}}|group="note"}}  Their elopement was thwarted by her father's retainers.<ref name="Herbst431" /> Kościuszko received a thrashing at their hands, an event that may have led to his antipathy for class distinctions.<ref name="Lituanus" />

In the autumn of 1775 he emigrated to avoid Sosnowski and his retainers.<ref name="Herbst431" /> In late 1775 he attempted to join the [[Saxony|Saxon]] army but was turned down and decided to return to Paris.<ref name="Herbst431" /> There he learned of the [[American Revolutionary War]] outbreak, in which the British colonies in North America had revolted against the British Crown and begun their struggle for independence. The first American successes were well-publicized in France, and the French people and government openly supported the revolutionaries' cause.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 36–38.</ref>