Casimir Pulaski

Casimir Pulaski(Polish Kazimierz Pułaski) was born in March of 1745 in Warsaw, Poland to Józef Pułaski and Marianna Zielińska. Casimir attended the Collegium Nobilium in Warsaw. In 1762 Casimir started his military career as a page to Prince Karl Christian Joseph the Duke of Cortland. In 1764 Casimir joined the Bar Confederation which saw the current Polish king Stanisław II as a Russian puppet and sought to overthrow him. After the coup failed in 1772 Pulaski fled the Commonwealth, first to Prussia then later went to France where he attempted to join the French Foreign Legion, but instead ended up in prison for debt.

In 1777 when he was released from jail he ended up meeting Marquis de Lafayette and Benjamin Franklin who convinced him to join the Continental Army. Later on that year he arrived in America and was given a command position in the cavalry of the army. He took part in many battles of the war such as Brandywine and Germantown and was eventually given his own cavalry corps known as Pulaski's Legion. In 1779 during the Battle of Savannah, Casimir was struck by grapeshot while attempting to rally his troops and was killed. In 1825 Marquis de Lafayette commissioned a monument for Pulaski in Savannah. Casimir was known as the "Father of American cavalry" for his actions during the Revolutionary War

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