Editing Tadeusz Kościuszko (section)

==American Revolutionary War==
On learning of the American Revolution, Kościuszko, a man of revolutionary aspirations, sympathetic to the American cause and an advocate of [[human rights]], sailed for the Americas in June 1776 along with other foreign officers, likely with the help of a French supporter of the American revolutionaries, [[Pierre Beaumarchais]].<ref name="Herbst431" /><ref name="Storozynski pp. 17–18." /> After finally arriving in Philadelphia (after a Caribbean shipwreck) he sought out [[Benjamin Franklin]] at his print shop; offering to take engineering subject exams (in lieu of any letters of recommendation), he received a high mark on a geometry exam and Franklin's recommendation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/polish-patriot-who-helped-americans-beat-british-180962430/ |title=The Polish Patriot Who Helped Americans Beat the British |first=Erick |last=Trickey |date=March 8, 2017 |publisher=Smithsonian Magazine }}</ref>  On 30 August 1776, Kościuszko submitted an application to the [[Second Continental Congress]] at the [[Independence Hall|Pennsylvania State House]], and was assigned to the [[Continental Army]] the next day.<ref name="Herbst431" />

===Northern region===
[[File:Remains of Ft. Clinton, NY.JPG|thumb|[[Fort Clinton (West Point)]], fortified by Kościuszko, honored by a statue in background]]

Kościuszko's first task was building fortifications at [[Fort Billingsport]] in [[Paulsboro, New Jersey|Paulsboro]], [[New Jersey]], to protect the banks of the [[Delaware River]] and prevent a possible [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] advance up the river to Philadelphia.<ref name="Billingsport">[[#Colimore|Colimore]], news article.</ref> He initially served as a volunteer in the private employ of Benjamin Franklin, but on 18 October 1776, Congress commissioned him a colonel of engineers in the Continental Army.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 41–42.</ref>

In spring 1777, Kościuszko was attached to the [[Departments of the Continental Army|Northern Army]] under [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] [[Horatio Gates]], arriving at the Canada–U.S. border in May 1777. Subsequently, posted to [[Fort Ticonderoga]], he reviewed the defenses of what had been one of the most formidable fortresses in North America.<ref name="Herbst431"/><ref name="Storozynski47–52">[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 47–52.</ref> His surveys prompted him to strongly recommend the construction of a battery on [[Mount Defiance (New York)|Sugar Loaf]], a high point overlooking the fort.<ref name="Storozynski47–52"/> His prudent recommendation, in which his fellow engineers concurred, was turned down by the garrison commander, Brigadier General [[Arthur St. Clair]].<ref name="Herbst431"/><ref name="Storozynski47–52"/>

This proved a tactical blunder: when a British army under Major General [[John Burgoyne]] arrived in July 1777, Burgoyne did exactly what Kościuszko had warned of, and had his engineers place [[artillery]] on the hill.<ref name="Storozynski47–52"/> With the British in complete control of the high ground, the Americans realized their situation was hopeless and abandoned the fortress with hardly a shot fired in the [[Siege of Fort Ticonderoga (1777)|siege of Ticonderoga]].<ref name="Storozynski47–52"/> The British advance force nipped hard on the heels of the outnumbered and exhausted Continentals as they fled south. Major General [[Philip Schuyler]], desperate to put distance between his men and their pursuers, ordered Kościuszko to delay the enemy.<ref name="Storozynski53–54">[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 53–54.</ref>  Kościuszko designed an engineer's solution: his men felled trees, dammed streams, and destroyed bridges and [[causeway]]s.<ref name="Storozynski53–54"/> Encumbered by their huge supply train, the British began to bog down, giving the Americans the time needed to safely withdraw across the [[Hudson River]].<ref name="Storozynski53–54"/>

Gates tapped Kościuszko to survey the country between the opposing armies, choose the most defensible position, and fortify it. Finding just such a spot near [[Saratoga, New York|Saratoga]], overlooking the Hudson at [[Battles of Saratoga|Bemis Heights]], Kościuszko laid out a robust array of defenses, nearly impregnable. His judgment and meticulous attention to detail frustrated the British attacks during the [[Battles of Saratoga|Battle of Saratoga]],<ref name="Herbst431"/> and Gates accepted the surrender of Burgoyne's [[Convention Army|force]] there on 16 October 1777.<ref name="AfflerbachStrachan2012">[[#Afflerbach|Afflerbach, 2012]], pp. 177–79.</ref> The dwindling British army had been dealt a sound defeat, turning the tide to American advantage.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 65.</ref>  Kościuszko's work at Saratoga received great praise from Gates, who later told his friend, Dr. [[Benjamin Rush]]: "The great tacticians of the campaign were hills and forests, which a young Polish engineer was skillful enough to select for my encampment."<ref name="Herbst431"/>

At some point in 1777, Kościuszko composed a [[polonaise]] and scored it for the [[harpsichord]]. Named for him, and with lyrics by [[Rajnold Suchodolski]], it later became popular with Polish patriots during the [[November Uprising|November 1830 Uprising]].<ref name="usc">[[#Anderton|Anderton, 2002]], Vol. 5, No. 2.</ref> Around that time, Kościuszko was assigned an [[African Americans|African American]] orderly, [[Agrippa Hull]], whom he treated as an equal and a friend.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 111–12.</ref>

In March 1778, Kościuszko arrived at [[United States Military Academy|West Point, New York]], and spent more than two years<ref>[[#Hunt|U.S.Government Printing Office, 1922]].</ref> strengthening the fortifications and improving the stronghold's defenses.<ref name="Herbst432">[[#Herbst|Herbst, 1969]], p. 43.</ref><ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 85.</ref>  It was these defenses that the American General [[Benedict Arnold]] subsequently attempted to surrender to the British when he defected.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 128–30.</ref>  Soon after Kościuszko finished fortifying West Point, in August 1780, General [[George Washington]] granted Kościuszko's request to transfer to combat duty with the Southern Army. Kościuszko's West Point fortifications were widely praised as innovative for the time.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 131–32.</ref><ref>[[#Palmer|Palmer, 1976]], pp. 171–74.</ref>

===Southern region===
[[File:Tadeusz Kościuszko.PNG|thumb|Portrait by [[Kazimierz Wojniakowski]]]]

After travelling south through rural [[Virginia]] in October 1780, Kościuszko proceeded to [[North Carolina]] to report to his former commander General Gates.<ref name="Herbst432"/> Following Gates's disastrous defeat at [[Battle of Camden|Camden]] on 16 August 1780, the [[Continental Congress]] selected Washington's choice, Major General [[Nathanael Greene]], to replace Gates as commander of the Southern Department.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 141–42.</ref> When Greene formally assumed command on 3 December 1780, he retained Kościuszko as his chief engineer. By then, he had been praised by both Gates and Greene.<ref name="Herbst432"/>

During this campaign, Kościuszko was placed in command of building [[bateau]]x, siting the location for camps, scouting river crossings, fortifying positions, and developing intelligence contacts. Many of his contributions were instrumental in preventing the destruction of the Southern Army.  This was especially so during the [[Nathanael Greene#The race to the Dan River|"Race to the Dan"]], when British General [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Charles Cornwallis]] chased Greene across {{convert|200|mi}} of rough backcountry in January and February 1781. Thanks largely to a combination of Greene's tactics, Kościuszko's bateaux, and accurate scouting of the rivers ahead of the main body, the Continentals safely crossed each river, including the [[Yadkin River|Yadkin]] and the [[Dan River (Virginia)|Dan]].<ref name="Herbst432"/> Cornwallis, having no boats, and finding no way to cross the swollen Dan, abandoned the chase and withdrew into North Carolina. The Continentals regrouped south of [[Halifax, Virginia]], where Kościuszko had earlier, at Greene's request, established a fortified depot.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 144–46.</ref>

During the Race to the Dan, Kościuszko had helped select the site where Greene eventually returned to fight Cornwallis at [[Battle of Guilford Court House|Guilford Courthouse]].  Though tactically defeated, the Americans all but destroyed Cornwallis's army as an effective fighting force and gained a permanent strategic advantage in the South.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 147.</ref>  Thus, when Greene began his reconquest of [[South Carolina]] in the spring of 1781, he summoned Kościuszko to rejoin the main body of the Southern Army.  The combined forces of the Continentals and Southern [[militia]] gradually forced the British from the backcountry into the coastal ports during the latter half of 1781 and, on 25 April, Kościuszko participated in the [[Battle of Hobkirk's Hill|Second Battle of Camden]].<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 148.</ref>  At [[Ninety Six, South Carolina|Ninety-Six]], Kościuszko [[Siege of Ninety-Six|besieged the Star Fort]] from 22 May to 18 June.  During the unsuccessful siege, he suffered his only wound in seven years of service, [[bayonet]]ted in the buttocks during an assault by the fort's defenders on the approach trench that he was constructing.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 149–53.</ref>

Kościuszko subsequently helped fortify the American bases in North Carolina,<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 154.</ref> before taking part in several smaller operations in the final year of hostilities, harassing British foraging parties near [[Charleston, South Carolina]].  After the death of his friend, Colonel [[John Laurens]], Kościuszko became engaged in these operations, taking over Laurens's intelligence network in the area. He commanded two cavalry squadrons and an infantry unit, and his last known battlefield command of the war occurred at [[James Island, South Carolina]], on 14 November 1782. In what has been described as [[Battle of James Island|the Continental Army's final armed action of the war]],<ref>[[#Kajencki|Kajencki, 1998]], p. 174.</ref> he was nearly killed as his small force was routed.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 158–60.</ref>  A month later, he was among the Continental troops that reoccupied Charleston following the city's British evacuation. Kościuszko spent the rest of the war there, conducting a fireworks display on 23 April 1783, to celebrate the signing of the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] earlier that month.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 161–62.</ref>

===Leaving for home===
Having not been paid in his seven years of service, in late May 1783, Kościuszko decided to collect the salary owed to him.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 163.</ref> That year, he was asked by [[United States Congress|Congress]] to supervise the fireworks during the [[Independence Day (United States)|4 July]] celebrations at [[Princeton, New Jersey]].<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 164.</ref> On 13 October 1783, Congress promoted him to brigadier general, but he still had not received his back pay. Many other officers and soldiers were in the same situation.<ref>[[#Storozynski2009|Storozynski, 2009]], p. 114.</ref> While waiting for his pay, unable to finance a voyage back to Europe, Kościuszko, like several others, lived on money borrowed from the Polish–Jewish banker [[Haym Salomon|Haym Solomon]]. Eventually, he received a certificate for 12,280 dollars, at 6%, to be paid on 1 January 1784 (equivalent to ~$323,000, paid as installments ~$19,400 a month in 2022), and the right to {{convert|500|acre|ha sqmi|2}} of land, but only if he chose to settle in the United States.<ref name="Storozynski166–167">[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 166–67.</ref> 

For the winter of 1783–84, his former commanding officer, General Greene, invited Kościuszko to stay at his mansion.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 168.</ref> He was inducted into the [[Society of the Cincinnati]]<ref name="Herbst432"/><ref>[[#Gardner|Gardner, 1920]] p. 31</ref> and into the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1785.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Thaddeus+Kosciusko&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=14 December 2020|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> During the Revolution, Kościuszko carried an old Spanish sword at his side, which was inscribed with the words ''Do not draw me without reason; do not sheathe me without honour.''<ref>[[#lengel|Lengel, 2017]], p. 105</ref>