Speaking of birthdays, today is also the 264th birthday of Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko.

Born in the gray area where modern-day Belarus, Lithuania and Poland meet, Kościuszko was the son of a petty Polish/Lithuanian noble.  In his youth, he was a bit of a polymath, studying at the University of Warsaw’s version of what’d today be called an ROTC program, then moved to Paris, intially to study art.  He quickly discovered the military was more to his interest, and essentially audited his way to a fairly keen understanding of the miltiary art and science of the day. 

Not finding a place in the Polish military or of any of Poland’s neighbors, and hearing of the start of the American Revolution, he sailed to America – and then read the Declaration of Independence,  He experienced an epiphany, finding a philosophy in it that matched the one he’d been incubating for some time.  It affected him to the point where he swung a meeting with Thomas Jefferson, which turned into an hours-long intellectual free-for-all.

Appointed an engineering officer, he was sent to Fort Ticonderoga, near the hostile Canadian border.  He noticed a huge chink in the fort’s defenses, and recommended a fix – which was ovwerruled by his commander, an event that makes Kościuszko the secular patron saint of all IT leaders.  As if on cue, the Brits exploited the very gap that Kościuszko had tried to fill, forcing the Americans to abandon the fort.  Kościuszko led a brilliant rear-guard retreat, and was then ordered to design some sort of line of defense to prevent Albany from falling.

This Kościuszko did – at the town of Saratoga, New York.  The Brit attempt to storm Kościuszko’s lines on their way to Albany and conquest of the entire Hudson Valley came to grief at the Battle of Saratoga – generally considered along with Princeton and Trenton to be the military turning points of the Revolution.  It was the battle that convinced the French to throw in their political and eventually military lot with the rebels – which, let us never forget, made victory possible.

He then went to the southern front, which remained very much in play until well into the 1780’s.  His engineering work played a key supporting role in the turning of the tide and eventual victory in Virginia and the Carolinas. 

At the end of the war, Kościuszko was a hero; Congress appointed him Brigadier General, and granted him an expanse of land in Virginia, which Kościuszko willed to the cause of buying the freedom of southern slaves (including those of Thomas Jefferson), on his was back to Europe.

In Poland, he joined the new, expanding army of the young Polish/Lithuanian republic – in time to see Prussian betrayal in the face of Russian aggression.  Kościuszko led his troops to decisive victories over the Russians at the battles of Włodzimierz  and Dubienka – but Poland’s small army couldn’t hold back the Russian tide, and King Stanislaus August eventually surrendered, and the Second Partition of Poland was effected, carving up Poland and Lithuania between the Russians, Prussians and Austrians.

It only took a few years for popular resentments against the Russians to ferment into a revolt, which Kościuszko led, and became known as Kościuszko’s Uprising.  The revolution succeeded in tossing Russian troops from much of Poland, including Krakow and Warsaw – largely, again, with the help of victories by Kościuszko.  But internal power struggles weakened the uprising just as the Czar sicced the full brawn of the Russian army on the Poles, crushing the uprising and  sending Poland back into servitude that would last until 1918. 

Kościuszko was wounded and captured, and spent time in prison in Petrograd, before being released (and negotiating the release of thousands of Polish political prisoners in Siberia).  He went to Switzerland, where he died in 1817, an epic hero in three nations.

I’ve always loved Kościuszko’s advice to young people:

To do honor to your family and yourself and at my recommendation, you must reread what follows every day so that it will be engraved on your memory on which your well being will depend.

Rise at four in the summer and six in the winter. Your first thoughts must be directed towards the Supreme Being; worship Him for a few minutes. Set yourself to work with reflection and intelligence, either at your prescribed duty carried out in the most scrupulous manner, or perfect yourself in some science in which you should have true mastery. Avoid lying under any circumstances in your life, but always be frank and loyal and always tell the truth. Never be idle but be sober and frugal even hard on yourself while indulgent to others. Do not be vain nor an egotist. Before speaking or answering on something, reflect and consider well in order not to lose your point and say something stupid. Never fail to give due recognition under any circumstances to the person who is in charge of your well being. Anticipate his desires and his wishes. Pay close attention with proper humility. Look for an opportunity to be useful. As you are a foreigner in the country, redouble your concern and efforts to gain trust and preference over the natives legitimately by your merit and superior knowledge. If a secret is entrusted in you, keep it religiously; in all your actions you must be upright, sincere and open; no dissimulation in your speech, do not argue but seek the truth calmly and with modesty, be polite and considerate to everyone, agreeable and obliging in society, humane and helpful to the unfortunate according to your means. Read instructive books to embellish your mind and improve your spirit. Do not degrade yourself by making bad acquaintances, but rather those with high principles and reputation thus your conduct should be such that the whole world approves it and that wherever you may be it will be considered irreproachable.

I’ve always loved the fact that my son Zam shares a birthday with him.

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 1:45 pm and is filed under History And Its Making. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.