June 9, 2025 • 30 mins
Through sheer force of will, Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski came to America and forced the Continental forces to allow him to create a cavalry unit. His bold, impulsive, and sometimes reckless manuevers reinvented the way the war was fought.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
and Mild from Aaron Manky listener discretion advised. In the
early hours of October ninth, seventeen seventy nine, in the
marshes to the south of Savannah, Georgia, the cavalry commander
(00:21):
was awaiting his call to glory. If he succeeded, the
plan that he had spearheaded would unite a force of
American and French troops in a bold, multi pronged attack
to reclaim the city Savannah from the British. Once the
infantry located a defensive weakness, the cavalry would charge, break
(00:43):
through enemy lines and overwhelm their opposition. If they won,
it would be a resounding victory in the American Revolutionary War,
and also it would be a crowning achievement for one
of the most unlikely heroes of the Continental Army, because
the general that day waiting on his horse was neither
(01:06):
American nor French. Count Casimir Pulaski was a Polish noble. Unfortunately,
for Pulaski, the elements that fateful morning were against him.
The foggy weather and swampy terrain delayed the foot soldiers
in reaching their starting positions. The conditions also impeded the
(01:29):
Allied military units from effectively communicating with one another, a
process which was already difficult given the involved egos, tenuous agreements,
and language barriers between many of the officers, enlisted men,
and members of the militia. But far worse than all
of that, and unbeknownst to Pulaski, a critical betrayal had
(01:54):
taken place the night before. Someone had leaked their plans,
and so the fortifications they were attacking actually held far
more heavily armed reinforcements than Pulaski had counted on. British
riflemen were able to start brutally picking off the majority
(02:14):
of the sodden and struggling soldiers as they approached. Pulaski
waited with his cavalry while all this was happening. As
someone who lived for the thrill of battle, Pulaski found
the long period of anticipation to be nearly unbearable. It
was all he could do to keep his anti cavalrymen
(02:36):
ready and organized while gunshots and disembodied shouts filtered through
the misty air.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Finally, word came that the leader of the French forces,
Charles Hector, Comte de Stang, had been gravely wounded. Knowing
that the death of Distang could throw France's units into
chaos and thereby doom the ally's chances, he made the
decision to spur his steed forward. After all, this was
(03:05):
what the cavalry was all about, speed, precision, daring action.
He detested structured, predictable warfare anyway, and he was certainly
used to being vastly outnumbered. And so Pulaski rode into
the fray, convinced that there was still hope for the
(03:26):
man who would later be called the father of the
American Cavalry. There was always still hope of shifting the momentum,
of fighting for freedom, of harnessing his unrivaled skills atop
a horse, of saving the day. I'm Danah Schwartz, and
this is noble blood. Through almost every phase of his life,
(03:55):
Casimir Pulaski seemed to spark some form of debate or conflict.
Case in point, his entry into the world somehow generated
four different birth records, which lead historians to often disagree
on his birthday. Nevertheless, the consensus among modern scholars seems
(04:15):
to be that the man whose name is commonly anglicized
as Casimir Pulaski was born on March sixth, seventeen forty
five in Warsaw, Poland. His family was devoutly Catholic and
prominent among the Polish nobility. Some sources quibble over Pulaski's
education and whether he was possibly a freemason, but three
(04:38):
things his biographers all appear to agree on are the
on Count was highly driven to fight for independence. He
was exceedingly passionate about horse riding, and he felt that
the more he could combine the two, the better. Pulaski's
armed ambitions pushed him to join multiple wars on multiple
(04:58):
continents and connect with some of eighty eighteenth century's most
influential figures, rather than cover his entire military career or life, though,
especially since Pulaski's own mood and movements seemed so often
hinged on whichever campaign was directly at hand, will zoom
in on two specific battles of the American Revolutionary War that,
(05:23):
in my mind serve as intriguing windows into his personality,
his superlative horse sense, and his lasting effect on the
fledgling country's fortunes. Our first battle, the Battle of Brandywine,
was a doozy. The fighting along Brandywine Creek on September eleventh,
(05:46):
seventeen seventy seven reportedly involved more soldiers than any skirmish
in the war other than the Battle of Long Island.
Most estimates put a total number of American and British
troops who flashed at a little over thirty thousand. However,
even with army size being so vital, Pulaski almost wasn't
(06:09):
allowed to participate at all. The Polish soldier had only
recently arrived from commanding a cavalry for the bar Confederation,
a group who had fiercely fought against Russian control of
the Poland Lithuania Commonwealth. Pulaski's exploits there were divisive, leading
(06:29):
many contemporaries to describe him as brave and honest, while
others characterized him as a loose cannon. But again there
was little argument about his larger aspirations. Fellow soldiers frequently
remarked on his disinterest in women, in drinking, and other
common pursuits, as he singularly obsessively sought to fight for
(06:54):
nations whose quests for independence he viewed as honorable and worthy.
Pulaski's reputation was so considerable that, after his side lost
in Poland, he arrived in America bearing a recommendation letter
from another than notable diplomat, Benjamin Franklin. Three weeks prior
(07:16):
to the Battle of Brandywine, Pulaski had presented himself and
his letter to George Washington in Pennsylvania, as the American
general was strategizing about how to keep British forces from
capturing the US capital at the time, Philadelphia. The thirty
one year old Polish Man, who a resident doctor described
(07:39):
as a man of hardly middling stature, sharp continents, and
lively hair, may not have had the most awe inspiring
physical presence, and he hardly spoke English, but once he
got on a horse, he was captivating. Pulaski reportedly performed
writing stunts Washington's officers to showcase his prowess and to
(08:04):
emphasize his claim that well trained cavalry corps could perform
feats far beyond the capacity of any infantry. It's worth
taking a moment here to appreciate just how dazzling Pulaski's
riding skills were. Multiple historians have related that one of
the stunts Pulaski executed at Washington's headquarters involved him urging
(08:28):
his horse to a full gallop, then shooting his pistol,
tossing his pistol into the air, catching it, and precisely
hurling it at a target. He'd then circle back and,
without slowing down, balance on a single stirrup, bend over
to retrieve his pistol, and deftly right himself ready for
(08:49):
his next charge. Many impressed American officers apparently could not
replicate the dangerous maneuver without falling off their horses a
and injuring themselves. Clearly, even in the midst of experienced horsemen,
Pulaski was a stallion among foles. However, Pulaski struggled to
(09:13):
secure an appointment to the Continental Army before the Battle
of Brandywine. Despite Pulaski's experience, Washington was reluctant to make
the brash count a high ranking officer for several reasons.
For one, many Europeans were arriving to seek fame and
fortune in the war, and American soldiers resented foreigners getting
(09:37):
positions above them. In addition, Washington was not the biggest
believer in having a large cavalry. Several historians assert that
this skepticism was partly due to naivete as he had
not witnessed a mounted division used in as effective a
fashion as it had been in Europe. Practicality also heavily
(10:00):
factored into Washington's decisions. Overseeing America's war operation was a
daunting managerial task, and Washington evidently saw infantry and artillery
units as more cost effective than a cavalry, given that
his side had relatively little infrastructure for training riders or
(10:20):
caring for war horses. But Pulaski valued a robust cavalry
above all and refused to take no for an answer.
After bouncing between Washington's camp and the United States Congress,
growing impatient while hearing that the British were steadily getting nearer,
Pulaski finally got Washington to let him act as a
(10:44):
volunteer cavalry officer and join Washington's forces at Brandywine. The
battle did not go well for the Continental Army. After
eleven hours of grueling fighting, Washington's route side was forced
to make a chaotic retreat. The situation looked dire for
(11:07):
the Americans, but also it offered a distinct opportunity for Pulaski.
Up to that point, Pulaski had not gotten involved in
much direct action, since Washington primarily saw fit to use
cavalrymen as messengers and scouts. With their forces in utter disarray, however,
(11:29):
Pulaski convinced Washington to let him lead thirty horsemen from
the general's own guard in a swift strike on the
advancing British. Quickly finding success with his decisive, unconventional style
of fighting, Pulaski reportedly then rounded up scattered soldiers and
(11:49):
led them in an audacious attack on the enemy's oncoming flink,
buying the American's precious time to retreat. The battle still
ended in defeat for the Continental Army, and the British
still eventually captured Philadelphia, but numerous historians claim that without
Pulaski's rear guard heroics, George Washington would have died that day,
(12:14):
So by extension, it's not really a huge exaggeration to
say that if it were not for Pulaski's persistence at Brandywine,
the United States might be a very different place today.
The second of our two key Casimir Pulaski influenced battles
(12:35):
is the Siege of Savannah in seventeen seventy nine. As
the name suggests, this conflict greatly contrasted the Brandywine in
terms of geography and strategy, although according to many accounts
it was also one of the bloodiest of the American Revolution.
The Siege of Savannah was also a fascinating microcosm of
(12:59):
the larger war, as it involved troops arriving by land
and sea, complex tactics, and awkwardly desperate diplomacy. Even Pulaski's
journey to Savannah was arduous in both a physical and
emotional sense. The trek to reach the British occupied city
(13:20):
was roughly seven hundred miles and involved numerous side missions, skirmishes,
and tragic losses, many of which Pulaski endured while simultaneously
suffering from malaria. But at least by this point he
had a dedicated cavalry corps. Pulaski's deeds at the Brandywine
(13:41):
had been so undeniably valiant that Congress had allowed Washington
to commission him as a brigadier general of the Continental
Army's cavalry. It was a big leap, but Pulaski had
been far from satisfied as his grand horse centered dreams
or corralled by several harsh realities. Namely, Washington still underestimated
(14:06):
the cavalry's full potential, and Pulaski's own, let's say intense
leadership style and limited fluency in English had reputedly caused
friction between him and other officers. Before Pulaski traveled South.
Financial issues in bureaucratic oversight had also frustrated him, so
(14:28):
much so that he supposedly often covered his soldier's pay himself,
and he had once even resigned. But thanks to a
productive meeting with General Horatio Gates in which the determined
cavalryman had laid out his vision for an elite lancer unit,
Pulaski had been reconfirmed to his rank, given the unique
(14:52):
title of Commander of the Horse, and permitted to assemble
a division of cavalry and light infant try men more
to his liking, which became known as Pulaski's Legion. Recruiting
for this unit was still a constant challenge, to the
point that, despite the reservations of Washington and others, Pulaski
(15:15):
often accepted British deserters and prisoners of war into his
ranks as long as he was able to personally vet
each recruit. By February seventeen seventy nine, through sheer force
of will and meticulous training, Pulaski at last led a
formidable cavalry unit, and in eyeing the Southern front of
(15:37):
the war, he saw a great opportunity to put his
new legion to use. The British were shifting many troops
and resources southward, and in riding down to Savannah, Pulaski
relished the chance to utilize his favorite battle tactics. According
(16:00):
to his correspondence, the Polish general viewed it as advantageous
to avoid large, straightforward battles, as so many in the
North were doing, and instead deploy smaller detachments to attack
quickly and unpredictably. On his way to meet General Benjamin
Lincoln in Georgia, Pulaski put his style to warfare in practice,
(16:24):
and in doing so impactfully defended several Southern sites, while
also making plenty of decisions that some Southern officers viewed
as impulsive and irresponsible. Times were desperate, though, and the
Continental Army's only hope of reclaiming Savannah after almost a
(16:44):
year of British occupation was to make the best of
its imperfect alliances. The awkward nature of one of these
multinational relationships became especially apparent when three forces confron merged
near Savannah in September seventeen seventy nine. There was Pulaski's
(17:06):
cavalry of about two hundred and sixty men coordinating with
General Lincoln's small army of one thousand South Carolina continentals
and militia. And then there was the French Admiral Charles
ecdor Comte de Stang's roughly four thousand reinforcements that he
brought by ship. Whereas Pulaski was at times a divisive
(17:30):
figure in American military circles, Distang seems to have been
more universally disliked. If many accounts are to be believed,
he was haughty and egotistical, and unlike Pulaski, who did
largely win the trust of his legion, Distang frequently alienated
his closest officers by disregarding their council. That made it
(17:55):
tricky to orchestrate a successful siege against British General Augustin
Prevost and his thirty two hundred British defenders. And yet,
after coordinating with his American and French counterparts, Pulaski's cavalry
so speedily cut off British supply lines and reinforcements that Distaying,
(18:19):
eager to claim the victory, started negotiating the British side's surrender.
Distang naively gave the British extra time to consider his terms,
which the British General Prevost used to fortify his side's defenses.
Even so, Pulaski devised a solid assault plan, and despite
(18:42):
the French general and General Lincoln's struggle in seeing eye
to eye, he got both men to sign off. The
joint forces would launch a three pronged attack. American and
French divisions would engage the right and left flanks, while
the ally's largest forces would attack the spring Hill Redoubt,
(19:05):
a key British fortification. Pulaski would wait with his cavalry
and then break through into Savannah and create so much
chaos by riding through the streets and attacking the defensive
lines from behind that the British side's defensive advantage would evaporate.
It was a very good plan. Unfortunately for Pulaski, his
(19:29):
plan was largely undone by a timely betrayal. Ironically, given
all the handwringing about the trustworthiness of the deserters and
POW's in Pulaski's legion, the double crosser in this case
was American. The night before the planned attack, a member
(19:49):
of the Charleston Grenadiers snuck over to General Prevost and
told him of the Continental Army's intentions. Thus it came
to be that Annakt Sober ninth, seventeen seventy nine. After
the French and American infantry divisions were substantially repelled and
decimated while moving through the swamps and rice fields, Pulaski
(20:13):
rode through the foggy marshes to try to save the
gravely wounded Disdain. The rescue was not unlike so many
other daring ones that Pulaski had previously pulled off, but
this time his luck ran out and he was shot
in the upper right thigh by grape shot. Even as
(20:34):
he was being pulled from the battlefield, Pulaski continued giving
orders to his second in command, but the loss of
their fearless general disenheartened Pulaski's legion, and ultimately the Continental
Army suffered a defeat that some British accounts claimed was
one of the largest of the war. Meanwhile, a surgeon
(20:56):
tended to Pulaski, removing the Peace of grape Shot, which
fun fact is now on display in a museum in Savannah.
But Pulaski was paranoid. He didn't want to remain near
the British forces, fearing that if they captured him, they
would turn him over to his old nemeses, the Russians.
(21:18):
So Pulaski was taken to the American ship the Wasp.
French surgeons on board tried to treat him, but gangrene
spread across the wound, and Pulaski, after a little over
two years of service, died on October fifteenth, seventeen seventy nine.
(21:38):
He was then given an honorable burial at sea or
was he Like so many other chapters of his life,
Pulaski's burial stirred up eventual controversy. Some rumors claimed that
he was taken ashore and buried on land, some near Savannah.
(22:01):
After a lengthy search, the married owners of a plantation
claimed in eighteen fifty three that they had found Pulaski's remains.
These were later interred in the Pulaski Monument in Savannah.
Then in nineteen ninety six, those remains were exhumed from
the monument for DNA analysis. The results proved inconclusive, and
(22:25):
despite fur their studies and claims that the bones were Pulaski's,
the evidence still seems shaky. In addition to the proposed
burial logistics being puzzling and the plantation owner's story containing holes,
scholars revealed the owners to be British loyalists, so it's
(22:46):
fairly implausible that Pulaski would have basically been buried on
hostile territory. The bones that were studied also showed certain
female characteristics, which led some to propose that Pulaski could
have actually been intersex, but there does not appear to
be much convincing evidence to support that theory, and the
(23:09):
bones do not conclusively match with a descendant of the
Pulaski family, and so it seems most likely that the
career soldier who covered so much ground in the saddle
was indeed, though it may feel less narratively fitting given
a watery grave, regardless of his body's final resting place
(23:32):
and the fact that he never married and had no
known heirs, Pulaski left behind a massive legacy. His most
loyal officers and companions paid him glowing tributes, and even
many detractors and enemy officers credited his courage and influence
on the war. Pulaski's military strategies were also clearly ahead
(23:56):
of their time, as evidenced by cavalry units of effectively
utilizing many of his tactics during the American Civil War,
and although he faced plenty of xenophobia, Pulaski's contributions to
the United States's fight for independence were eventually appreciated to
such a degree that he was referred to as the
(24:18):
Soldier of Liberty, and as he probably would have likely
found the most pleasing, the father of the American Cavalry. Currently,
a staggering number of structures commemorate Casmir Pulaski in the US.
In addition to his monument in Savannah, other majestic statues
(24:38):
stand in cities like Washington.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
D c.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Buffalo, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Hertford, and Providence. Fittingly, many depict him
riding a horse in addition, the Pulaski Bridge in New
York City, the Pulaski Skyway in New Jersey, and the
Pulaski Highway in Baltimore were all named after him, as
was Fort Pulaski in Georgia. Multiple military ships also bear
(25:05):
Pulaski's name, as do numerous villages and schools all over
the US. As you probably noticed, besides both being memorably illiterative,
the Battle of Brandywine and the Siege of Savannah also
both ended poorly for the American side, But rather than
being mere blights on Pulaski's record, these complex military engagements
(25:30):
highlight his unique value. By leading a misunderstood unit, Pulaski
often wound up in harrowing, long odds situations, and while
victories certainly deserve to be celebrated, defeats often offer deeper insight.
As the famed boxer Mike Tyson is so often quoted
(25:52):
as saying, everybody has a plan until they get punched
in the mouth. What made Pulaski remarkable is that he
constantly kept coming up with plans even after his enemies
kept proverbially punching him. If anything, Pulaski seemingly wanted to
weather his opponent's best shots, and thus proved how his
(26:15):
greatest strength was also his undoing bravery. Verging on recklessness
was a great blueprint for gaining an outsized reputation, but
not so much for ensuring a long life. In a way,
it's surprising that a Polish transplant who was so focused
on a relatively underutilized type of warfare would become such
(26:40):
a legendary figure in the United States's fight for independence.
But in another way, it makes perfect sense. Even for
those who did not fully grasp all of Pulaski's ambitions
and European achievements, the Cavalry General's unbridled apologies passed and
continually resonated to this day. Few individuals as sacrifices and
(27:06):
ocean bridging fighting spirits better embody one of Poland's unofficial
mottos for our freedom and yours. That's the cavalry centric
story of Casimir Pulaski. But stick around after a brief
(27:27):
sponsor break to take one last trot down memory lane.
If you are from Illinois like me, or a fan
(27:47):
of Sufyan Stevens, you might be aware that the first
Monday in March is celebrated as Casimir Pulaski Day, and
at least back when I was young, it was a
day we got off school. My freshman year of college
out of state, I remember telling a story about something
my friends and I did on Kasmir Pulaski Day when
(28:08):
we didn't have school, and I was met with confused stares.
It was only then that I realized that Kasimir Pulaski
Day was not, in fact a nationally observed holiday. Because
of Chicago's large Polish population, it was introduced as a
holiday in the city in nineteen eighty six, to be
(28:29):
celebrated on the first Monday in March. Apparently, though fairly recently,
it seems not every school gives the day off anymore,
and so if you live in a school district that
still gets Kasimir Pulaski Day off, please do let me know.
I'm curious. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and
(28:58):
Grim and Mild from Air. Noble Blood is hosted by
me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston,
hannah's Wick, Courtney Sender, Amy Hit and Julia Milani. The
show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising
producer rima il KLi and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young,
(29:22):
and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Assass
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
and Mild from Aaron Manky listener discretion advised. In the
early hours of October ninth, seventeen seventy nine, in the
marshes to the south of Savannah, Georgia, the cavalry commander
(00:21):
was awaiting his call to glory. If he succeeded, the
plan that he had spearheaded would unite a force of
American and French troops in a bold, multi pronged attack
to reclaim the city Savannah from the British. Once the
infantry located a defensive weakness, the cavalry would charge, break
(00:43):
through enemy lines and overwhelm their opposition. If they won,
it would be a resounding victory in the American Revolutionary War,
and also it would be a crowning achievement for one
of the most unlikely heroes of the Continental Army, because
the general that day waiting on his horse was neither
(01:06):
American nor French. Count Casimir Pulaski was a Polish noble. Unfortunately,
for Pulaski, the elements that fateful morning were against him.
The foggy weather and swampy terrain delayed the foot soldiers
in reaching their starting positions. The conditions also impeded the
(01:29):
Allied military units from effectively communicating with one another, a
process which was already difficult given the involved egos, tenuous agreements,
and language barriers between many of the officers, enlisted men,
and members of the militia. But far worse than all
of that, and unbeknownst to Pulaski, a critical betrayal had
(01:54):
taken place the night before. Someone had leaked their plans,
and so the fortifications they were attacking actually held far
more heavily armed reinforcements than Pulaski had counted on. British
riflemen were able to start brutally picking off the majority
(02:14):
of the sodden and struggling soldiers as they approached. Pulaski
waited with his cavalry while all this was happening. As
someone who lived for the thrill of battle, Pulaski found
the long period of anticipation to be nearly unbearable. It
was all he could do to keep his anti cavalrymen
(02:36):
ready and organized while gunshots and disembodied shouts filtered through
the misty air.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Finally, word came that the leader of the French forces,
Charles Hector, Comte de Stang, had been gravely wounded. Knowing
that the death of Distang could throw France's units into
chaos and thereby doom the ally's chances, he made the
decision to spur his steed forward. After all, this was
(03:05):
what the cavalry was all about, speed, precision, daring action.
He detested structured, predictable warfare anyway, and he was certainly
used to being vastly outnumbered. And so Pulaski rode into
the fray, convinced that there was still hope for the
(03:26):
man who would later be called the father of the
American Cavalry. There was always still hope of shifting the momentum,
of fighting for freedom, of harnessing his unrivaled skills atop
a horse, of saving the day. I'm Danah Schwartz, and
this is noble blood. Through almost every phase of his life,
(03:55):
Casimir Pulaski seemed to spark some form of debate or conflict.
Case in point, his entry into the world somehow generated
four different birth records, which lead historians to often disagree
on his birthday. Nevertheless, the consensus among modern scholars seems
(04:15):
to be that the man whose name is commonly anglicized
as Casimir Pulaski was born on March sixth, seventeen forty
five in Warsaw, Poland. His family was devoutly Catholic and
prominent among the Polish nobility. Some sources quibble over Pulaski's
education and whether he was possibly a freemason, but three
(04:38):
things his biographers all appear to agree on are the
on Count was highly driven to fight for independence. He
was exceedingly passionate about horse riding, and he felt that
the more he could combine the two, the better. Pulaski's
armed ambitions pushed him to join multiple wars on multiple
(04:58):
continents and connect with some of eighty eighteenth century's most
influential figures, rather than cover his entire military career or life, though,
especially since Pulaski's own mood and movements seemed so often
hinged on whichever campaign was directly at hand, will zoom
in on two specific battles of the American Revolutionary War that,
(05:23):
in my mind serve as intriguing windows into his personality,
his superlative horse sense, and his lasting effect on the
fledgling country's fortunes. Our first battle, the Battle of Brandywine,
was a doozy. The fighting along Brandywine Creek on September eleventh,
(05:46):
seventeen seventy seven reportedly involved more soldiers than any skirmish
in the war other than the Battle of Long Island.
Most estimates put a total number of American and British
troops who flashed at a little over thirty thousand. However,
even with army size being so vital, Pulaski almost wasn't
(06:09):
allowed to participate at all. The Polish soldier had only
recently arrived from commanding a cavalry for the bar Confederation,
a group who had fiercely fought against Russian control of
the Poland Lithuania Commonwealth. Pulaski's exploits there were divisive, leading
(06:29):
many contemporaries to describe him as brave and honest, while
others characterized him as a loose cannon. But again there
was little argument about his larger aspirations. Fellow soldiers frequently
remarked on his disinterest in women, in drinking, and other
common pursuits, as he singularly obsessively sought to fight for
(06:54):
nations whose quests for independence he viewed as honorable and worthy.
Pulaski's reputation was so considerable that, after his side lost
in Poland, he arrived in America bearing a recommendation letter
from another than notable diplomat, Benjamin Franklin. Three weeks prior
(07:16):
to the Battle of Brandywine, Pulaski had presented himself and
his letter to George Washington in Pennsylvania, as the American
general was strategizing about how to keep British forces from
capturing the US capital at the time, Philadelphia. The thirty
one year old Polish Man, who a resident doctor described
(07:39):
as a man of hardly middling stature, sharp continents, and
lively hair, may not have had the most awe inspiring
physical presence, and he hardly spoke English, but once he
got on a horse, he was captivating. Pulaski reportedly performed
writing stunts Washington's officers to showcase his prowess and to
(08:04):
emphasize his claim that well trained cavalry corps could perform
feats far beyond the capacity of any infantry. It's worth
taking a moment here to appreciate just how dazzling Pulaski's
riding skills were. Multiple historians have related that one of
the stunts Pulaski executed at Washington's headquarters involved him urging
(08:28):
his horse to a full gallop, then shooting his pistol,
tossing his pistol into the air, catching it, and precisely
hurling it at a target. He'd then circle back and,
without slowing down, balance on a single stirrup, bend over
to retrieve his pistol, and deftly right himself ready for
(08:49):
his next charge. Many impressed American officers apparently could not
replicate the dangerous maneuver without falling off their horses a
and injuring themselves. Clearly, even in the midst of experienced horsemen,
Pulaski was a stallion among foles. However, Pulaski struggled to
(09:13):
secure an appointment to the Continental Army before the Battle
of Brandywine. Despite Pulaski's experience, Washington was reluctant to make
the brash count a high ranking officer for several reasons.
For one, many Europeans were arriving to seek fame and
fortune in the war, and American soldiers resented foreigners getting
(09:37):
positions above them. In addition, Washington was not the biggest
believer in having a large cavalry. Several historians assert that
this skepticism was partly due to naivete as he had
not witnessed a mounted division used in as effective a
fashion as it had been in Europe. Practicality also heavily
(10:00):
factored into Washington's decisions. Overseeing America's war operation was a
daunting managerial task, and Washington evidently saw infantry and artillery
units as more cost effective than a cavalry, given that
his side had relatively little infrastructure for training riders or
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caring for war horses. But Pulaski valued a robust cavalry
above all and refused to take no for an answer.
After bouncing between Washington's camp and the United States Congress,
growing impatient while hearing that the British were steadily getting nearer,
Pulaski finally got Washington to let him act as a
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volunteer cavalry officer and join Washington's forces at Brandywine. The
battle did not go well for the Continental Army. After
eleven hours of grueling fighting, Washington's route side was forced
to make a chaotic retreat. The situation looked dire for
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the Americans, but also it offered a distinct opportunity for Pulaski.
Up to that point, Pulaski had not gotten involved in
much direct action, since Washington primarily saw fit to use
cavalrymen as messengers and scouts. With their forces in utter disarray, however,
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Pulaski convinced Washington to let him lead thirty horsemen from
the general's own guard in a swift strike on the
advancing British. Quickly finding success with his decisive, unconventional style
of fighting, Pulaski reportedly then rounded up scattered soldiers and
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led them in an audacious attack on the enemy's oncoming flink,
buying the American's precious time to retreat. The battle still
ended in defeat for the Continental Army, and the British
still eventually captured Philadelphia, but numerous historians claim that without
Pulaski's rear guard heroics, George Washington would have died that day,
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So by extension, it's not really a huge exaggeration to
say that if it were not for Pulaski's persistence at Brandywine,
the United States might be a very different place today.
The second of our two key Casimir Pulaski influenced battles
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is the Siege of Savannah in seventeen seventy nine. As
the name suggests, this conflict greatly contrasted the Brandywine in
terms of geography and strategy, although according to many accounts
it was also one of the bloodiest of the American Revolution.
The Siege of Savannah was also a fascinating microcosm of
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the larger war, as it involved troops arriving by land
and sea, complex tactics, and awkwardly desperate diplomacy. Even Pulaski's
journey to Savannah was arduous in both a physical and
emotional sense. The trek to reach the British occupied city
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was roughly seven hundred miles and involved numerous side missions, skirmishes,
and tragic losses, many of which Pulaski endured while simultaneously
suffering from malaria. But at least by this point he
had a dedicated cavalry corps. Pulaski's deeds at the Brandywine
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had been so undeniably valiant that Congress had allowed Washington
to commission him as a brigadier general of the Continental
Army's cavalry. It was a big leap, but Pulaski had
been far from satisfied as his grand horse centered dreams
or corralled by several harsh realities. Namely, Washington still underestimated
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the cavalry's full potential, and Pulaski's own, let's say intense
leadership style and limited fluency in English had reputedly caused
friction between him and other officers. Before Pulaski traveled South.
Financial issues in bureaucratic oversight had also frustrated him, so
(14:28):
much so that he supposedly often covered his soldier's pay himself,
and he had once even resigned. But thanks to a
productive meeting with General Horatio Gates in which the determined
cavalryman had laid out his vision for an elite lancer unit,
Pulaski had been reconfirmed to his rank, given the unique
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title of Commander of the Horse, and permitted to assemble
a division of cavalry and light infant try men more
to his liking, which became known as Pulaski's Legion. Recruiting
for this unit was still a constant challenge, to the
point that, despite the reservations of Washington and others, Pulaski
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often accepted British deserters and prisoners of war into his
ranks as long as he was able to personally vet
each recruit. By February seventeen seventy nine, through sheer force
of will and meticulous training, Pulaski at last led a
formidable cavalry unit, and in eyeing the Southern front of
(15:37):
the war, he saw a great opportunity to put his
new legion to use. The British were shifting many troops
and resources southward, and in riding down to Savannah, Pulaski
relished the chance to utilize his favorite battle tactics. According
(16:00):
to his correspondence, the Polish general viewed it as advantageous
to avoid large, straightforward battles, as so many in the
North were doing, and instead deploy smaller detachments to attack
quickly and unpredictably. On his way to meet General Benjamin
Lincoln in Georgia, Pulaski put his style to warfare in practice,
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and in doing so impactfully defended several Southern sites, while
also making plenty of decisions that some Southern officers viewed
as impulsive and irresponsible. Times were desperate, though, and the
Continental Army's only hope of reclaiming Savannah after almost a
(16:44):
year of British occupation was to make the best of
its imperfect alliances. The awkward nature of one of these
multinational relationships became especially apparent when three forces confron merged
near Savannah in September seventeen seventy nine. There was Pulaski's
(17:06):
cavalry of about two hundred and sixty men coordinating with
General Lincoln's small army of one thousand South Carolina continentals
and militia. And then there was the French Admiral Charles
ecdor Comte de Stang's roughly four thousand reinforcements that he
brought by ship. Whereas Pulaski was at times a divisive
(17:30):
figure in American military circles, Distang seems to have been
more universally disliked. If many accounts are to be believed,
he was haughty and egotistical, and unlike Pulaski, who did
largely win the trust of his legion, Distang frequently alienated
his closest officers by disregarding their council. That made it
(17:55):
tricky to orchestrate a successful siege against British General Augustin
Prevost and his thirty two hundred British defenders. And yet,
after coordinating with his American and French counterparts, Pulaski's cavalry
so speedily cut off British supply lines and reinforcements that Distaying,
(18:19):
eager to claim the victory, started negotiating the British side's surrender.
Distang naively gave the British extra time to consider his terms,
which the British General Prevost used to fortify his side's defenses.
Even so, Pulaski devised a solid assault plan, and despite
(18:42):
the French general and General Lincoln's struggle in seeing eye
to eye, he got both men to sign off. The
joint forces would launch a three pronged attack. American and
French divisions would engage the right and left flanks, while
the ally's largest forces would attack the spring Hill Redoubt,
(19:05):
a key British fortification. Pulaski would wait with his cavalry
and then break through into Savannah and create so much
chaos by riding through the streets and attacking the defensive
lines from behind that the British side's defensive advantage would evaporate.
It was a very good plan. Unfortunately for Pulaski, his
(19:29):
plan was largely undone by a timely betrayal. Ironically, given
all the handwringing about the trustworthiness of the deserters and
POW's in Pulaski's legion, the double crosser in this case
was American. The night before the planned attack, a member
(19:49):
of the Charleston Grenadiers snuck over to General Prevost and
told him of the Continental Army's intentions. Thus it came
to be that Annakt Sober ninth, seventeen seventy nine. After
the French and American infantry divisions were substantially repelled and
decimated while moving through the swamps and rice fields, Pulaski
(20:13):
rode through the foggy marshes to try to save the
gravely wounded Disdain. The rescue was not unlike so many
other daring ones that Pulaski had previously pulled off, but
this time his luck ran out and he was shot
in the upper right thigh by grape shot. Even as
(20:34):
he was being pulled from the battlefield, Pulaski continued giving
orders to his second in command, but the loss of
their fearless general disenheartened Pulaski's legion, and ultimately the Continental
Army suffered a defeat that some British accounts claimed was
one of the largest of the war. Meanwhile, a surgeon
(20:56):
tended to Pulaski, removing the Peace of grape Shot, which
fun fact is now on display in a museum in Savannah.
But Pulaski was paranoid. He didn't want to remain near
the British forces, fearing that if they captured him, they
would turn him over to his old nemeses, the Russians.
(21:18):
So Pulaski was taken to the American ship the Wasp.
French surgeons on board tried to treat him, but gangrene
spread across the wound, and Pulaski, after a little over
two years of service, died on October fifteenth, seventeen seventy nine.
(21:38):
He was then given an honorable burial at sea or
was he Like so many other chapters of his life,
Pulaski's burial stirred up eventual controversy. Some rumors claimed that
he was taken ashore and buried on land, some near Savannah.
(22:01):
After a lengthy search, the married owners of a plantation
claimed in eighteen fifty three that they had found Pulaski's remains.
These were later interred in the Pulaski Monument in Savannah.
Then in nineteen ninety six, those remains were exhumed from
the monument for DNA analysis. The results proved inconclusive, and
(22:25):
despite fur their studies and claims that the bones were Pulaski's,
the evidence still seems shaky. In addition to the proposed
burial logistics being puzzling and the plantation owner's story containing holes,
scholars revealed the owners to be British loyalists, so it's
(22:46):
fairly implausible that Pulaski would have basically been buried on
hostile territory. The bones that were studied also showed certain
female characteristics, which led some to propose that Pulaski could
have actually been intersex, but there does not appear to
be much convincing evidence to support that theory, and the
(23:09):
bones do not conclusively match with a descendant of the
Pulaski family, and so it seems most likely that the
career soldier who covered so much ground in the saddle
was indeed, though it may feel less narratively fitting given
a watery grave, regardless of his body's final resting place
(23:32):
and the fact that he never married and had no
known heirs, Pulaski left behind a massive legacy. His most
loyal officers and companions paid him glowing tributes, and even
many detractors and enemy officers credited his courage and influence
on the war. Pulaski's military strategies were also clearly ahead
(23:56):
of their time, as evidenced by cavalry units of effectively
utilizing many of his tactics during the American Civil War,
and although he faced plenty of xenophobia, Pulaski's contributions to
the United States's fight for independence were eventually appreciated to
such a degree that he was referred to as the
(24:18):
Soldier of Liberty, and as he probably would have likely
found the most pleasing, the father of the American Cavalry. Currently,
a staggering number of structures commemorate Casmir Pulaski in the US.
In addition to his monument in Savannah, other majestic statues
(24:38):
stand in cities like Washington.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
D c.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Buffalo, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Hertford, and Providence. Fittingly, many depict him
riding a horse in addition, the Pulaski Bridge in New
York City, the Pulaski Skyway in New Jersey, and the
Pulaski Highway in Baltimore were all named after him, as
was Fort Pulaski in Georgia. Multiple military ships also bear
(25:05):
Pulaski's name, as do numerous villages and schools all over
the US. As you probably noticed, besides both being memorably illiterative,
the Battle of Brandywine and the Siege of Savannah also
both ended poorly for the American side, But rather than
being mere blights on Pulaski's record, these complex military engagements
(25:30):
highlight his unique value. By leading a misunderstood unit, Pulaski
often wound up in harrowing, long odds situations, and while
victories certainly deserve to be celebrated, defeats often offer deeper insight.
As the famed boxer Mike Tyson is so often quoted
(25:52):
as saying, everybody has a plan until they get punched
in the mouth. What made Pulaski remarkable is that he
constantly kept coming up with plans even after his enemies
kept proverbially punching him. If anything, Pulaski seemingly wanted to
weather his opponent's best shots, and thus proved how his
(26:15):
greatest strength was also his undoing bravery. Verging on recklessness
was a great blueprint for gaining an outsized reputation, but
not so much for ensuring a long life. In a way,
it's surprising that a Polish transplant who was so focused
on a relatively underutilized type of warfare would become such
(26:40):
a legendary figure in the United States's fight for independence.
But in another way, it makes perfect sense. Even for
those who did not fully grasp all of Pulaski's ambitions
and European achievements, the Cavalry General's unbridled apologies passed and
continually resonated to this day. Few individuals as sacrifices and
(27:06):
ocean bridging fighting spirits better embody one of Poland's unofficial
mottos for our freedom and yours. That's the cavalry centric
story of Casimir Pulaski. But stick around after a brief
(27:27):
sponsor break to take one last trot down memory lane.
If you are from Illinois like me, or a fan
(27:47):
of Sufyan Stevens, you might be aware that the first
Monday in March is celebrated as Casimir Pulaski Day, and
at least back when I was young, it was a
day we got off school. My freshman year of college
out of state, I remember telling a story about something
my friends and I did on Kasmir Pulaski Day when
(28:08):
we didn't have school, and I was met with confused stares.
It was only then that I realized that Kasimir Pulaski
Day was not, in fact a nationally observed holiday. Because
of Chicago's large Polish population, it was introduced as a
holiday in the city in nineteen eighty six, to be
(28:29):
celebrated on the first Monday in March. Apparently, though fairly recently,
it seems not every school gives the day off anymore,
and so if you live in a school district that
still gets Kasimir Pulaski Day off, please do let me know.
I'm curious. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and
(28:58):
Grim and Mild from Air. Noble Blood is hosted by
me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston,
hannah's Wick, Courtney Sender, Amy Hit and Julia Milani. The
show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising
producer rima il KLi and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young,
(29:22):
and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
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Assass
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Dana Schwartz
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