Nanny of the Maroons stands out in history as the only female among Jamaica’s
national heroes. She possessed that fierce fighting spirit generally associated with the
courage of men.
In fact, Nanny is described as a fearless Asante warrior who used militarist techniques
to fool and beguile the English.
Nanny was a leader of the Maroons at the beginning of the 18th. Century. She was
known by both the Maroons and the British settlers as an outstanding military leader
who became, in her lifetime and after, a symbol of unity and strength for her people
during times of crisis.
She was particularly important to them in the fierce fight with the British during the
First Maroon War from 1720 to 1739. Although she has been immortalized in songs
and legends, certain facts about Nanny (or "Granny Nanny", as she was affectionately
known) have also been documented.
Both legends and documents refer to her as having exceptional leadership qualities.
She was a small wiry woman with piercing eyes. Her influence over the Maroons was
so strong that it seemed to be supernatural and was said to be connected to her powers
of obeah. She was particularly skilled in organising the guerrilla warfare carried out by
the Eastern Maroons to keep away the British troops who attempted to penetrate the
mountains to overpower them.
Her cleverness in planning guerrilla warfare confused the British and their accounts of
the fights reflect the surprise and fears which the Maroon traps caused among them.
Beside inspiring her people to ward off troops, Nanny was also a type of chieftainess
or wise woman of the village, who passed down legends and encouraged the
continuation of customs, music and songs that had come with the people from Africa,
and that instilled in them confidence and pride.
Her spirit of freedom was so great that in 1739, when Quao signed the second Treaty
(The first was signed by Cudjoe for the Leeward Maroons a few months earlier) with
the British, it is reported that Nanny was very angry and in disagreement with the
principle of peace with the British which she knew meant another form of subjugation.
There are many legends about Nanny among the Maroons. Some even claim that
there were several women who were leaders of the Maroons during this period of
history. But all the legends and documents refer to Nanny of the First Maroon War as
the most outstanding of them all, leading her people with courage and inspiring them to
struggle to maintain that spirit of freedom, that life of independence, which was their
rightful inheritance.
Like the heroes of the pre Independence era, Nanny too met her untimely death at the
instigation of the English sometime around 1734.
Yet, the spirit of Nanny of the Maroons remains today as a symbol of that indomitable
desire that will never yield to captivity.
People & Events Maroons in the Revolutionary period 1775 - 1783
Resource Bank Contents
As early as the 1650s, enslaved Africans escaped into the American wilderness to form their own separate communities -- a New World adaptation of an African form of resistance. These maroons (or outlyers, as they were often called in North America) set up small communities in swamps or other areas where they were not likely to be discovered. Although most focused on their own survival -- building homes, raising crops and livestock, fortifying the community against attack -- others engaged in guerilla warfare against neighboring plantations and provided a base to which other fugitives could flee.
Because of extensive settlement and cultivation, maroonage in Virginia and the northern colonies was mostly limited to the Great Dismal Swamp, on the Virginia and North Carolina border. The lower South, however, provided ample territory for sanctuary. Newly imported African slaves fled South Carolina to establish maroon communities in Florida in the late 1600s, a tradition that was continued by American-born fugitives from South Carolina and Georgia well into the nineteenth century.
Slave resistance escalated along with colonial struggles for liberty. In Georgia, a group of enslaved men, women and children took advantage of the confusion created by the Stamp Act by fleeing into the swamps and managed to elude capture for four years -- prompting the Georgia assembly to send a detachment of militia after them.
During the Revolutionary War, service with the British provided military training to thousands of black men, many of whom continued to fight after the British departed. A large group of men and women erected twenty-one houses and planted rice fields in a clearing near the Savannah River. The site measured 700 yards long and 120 yards wide, and was protected by a four-foot high log-and-cane barrier on the land side and large fallen logs on the creek side. From this base in the swamps, "Captain Cudjoe" and "Captain Lewis" led an armed group of 100 men who called themselves "the King of England's Soldiers" in bold attacks on plantations and on Georgia state troops.
By 1787, this band of guerrilla fighters posed a serious enough threat that the Georgia legislature sent a force of state troopers to find and destroy the maroon village. Although six maroons were killed and others wounded, most of the people fled into the South Carolina swamps. Heeding the advice of James Jackson, commander of the Georgia militia, the governors of South Carolina and Georgia launched a joint mission against the maroons. Lewis was captured, tried, and hanged. Afterwards, his head was severed and placed on a pole. Despite this brutal warning, numerous instances of guerrilla attacks continued to be reported.
In 1795, a maroon community led by "General of the Swamps" formed near Wilmington, North Carolina. After numerous complaints by whites, a bounty was placed on the General's head, and special hunting parties succeeded in routing the fugitives and killing the General.
Guerrilla attacks by maroons continued until the end of slavery, despite numerous but ineffectual attempts to wipe out such settlements.
[edit] History In the New World, as early as 1512, black slaves had escaped from Spanish and Portuguese owners and either joined indigenous peoples or eked out a living on their own.[1] Sir Francis Drake enlisted several 'cimaroons' during his raids on the Spanish.[2] As early as 1655 runaway slaves had formed their own communities in inland Jamaica.[3]
Ndyuka Maroon women with washing. Suriname River. 1955When runaway slaves banded together and subsisted independently they were called Maroons. On the Caribbean Islands runaway slaves formed bands and on some islands formed armed camps. Maroon communities faced great odds to survive against white attackers, obtain food for subsistence living, and to reproduce and increase their numbers. As the planters took over more land for crops, the Maroons began to vanish on the small islands. Only on some of the larger islands were organized Maroon communities able to thrive by growing crops and hunting. Here they grew in number as more slaves escaped from plantations and joined their bands. Seeking to separate themselves from whites, the Maroons gained in power and amid increasing hostilities, they raided and pillaged plantations and harassed planters until the planters began to fear a mass slave revolt.[4]
The early Maroon communities were usually displaced. By 1700, Maroons had disappeared from the smaller islands. Survival was always difficult as the Maroons had to fight off attackers as well as attempt to grow food.[4] One of the most influential Maroons was François Mackandal, a houngan, or voodoo priest, who led a six year rebellion against the white plantation owners in Haiti that preceded the Haitian Revolution.[5]
In Cuba, there were maroon communities in the mountains, where escaped slaves had joined refugee Taínos.[6] Before roads were built into the mountains of Puerto Rico, heavy brush kept many escaped maroons hidden in the southwestern hills where many also intermarried with the Natives. Escaped Africans sought refuge away from the coastal plantations of Ponce. [7] Remnants of these communities remain to this day (2006) for example in Viñales, Cuba [8] and Adjuntas, Puerto Rico.
Maroon communities emerged in many places in the Caribbean (St Vincent and Dominica for example), but none were seen as such a great threat to the British as the Jamaican Maroons.[9] A British governor signed a treaty promising the Maroons 2500 acres (10 km²) in two locations, because they presented a threat to the British. Also, some Maroons kept their freedom by agreeing to capture runaway slaves. They were paid two dollars for each slave returned.[10]
Beginning in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Jamaican Maroons fought British colonists to a draw and eventually signed treaties in the 18th century that effectively freed them over 50 years before the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. To this day, the Jamaican Maroons are to a significant extent autonomous and separate from Jamaican society. The physical isolation used to their advantage by their ancestors has today led to their communities remaining amongst the most inaccessible on the island. In their largest town, Accompong, in the parish of St. Elizabeth, the Leeward Maroons still possess a vibrant community of about 600. Tours of the village are offered to foreigners and a large festival is put on every January 6 to commemorate the signing of the peace treaty with the British after the First Maroon War.[3][11]
[edit] Culture
Ndyuka Maroon village, Suriname River, 1955Escaped slaves were frequently within the first generation of their arrival from Africa and often preserved their African languages and much of their culture. African traditions include such things as the use of medicinal herbs together with special drums and dances when the herbs are administered to a sick person. Other African healing traditions and rites have survived through the centuries - see, for example, the accompanying photos of a medicine man and a protective charm from Suriname.
The jungles around the Caribbean Sea offered food, shelter, and isolation for the escaped slaves. Maroons survived by growing vegetables and hunting. They also originally raided plantations. During these attacks, the maroons would burn crops, steal livestock and tools, kill slavemasters, and invite other slaves to join their communities. Individual groups of Maroons often allied themselves with the local indigenous tribes and occasionally assimilated into these populations. Maroons played an important role in the histories of Brazil, Suriname, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Cuba, and Jamaica.
There is much variety among Maroon cultural groups because of differences in history, geography, African nationality, and the culture of indigenous people throughout the Western hemisphere.
Maroon settlements often possessed a clannish, outsider identity. They sometimes developed Creole languages by mixing European tongues with their original African languages. One such Maroon Creole language, in Suriname, is Saramaccan.
The Maroons created their own independent communities which in some cases have survived for centuries and until recently remained separate from mainstream society. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Maroon communities began to disappear as forests were razed, although some countries, such as Guyana and Suriname, still have large Maroon populations living in the forests. Recently, many Maroons have moved to cities and towns as the process of urbanization accelerates.
The Boni Maroon Wars in Suriname by Wim S.M. Hoogbergen gives an overall picture of the history of the Aluku, or Boni, in Suriname from their origins until 1860, using the archives of the Netherlands, France and Suriname. Presently they live along the Lawa River, the border river between Suriname and French Guiana, with about 2,000 people. They fled there after protracted warfare against the white planters and their colonial armies. Another author who wrote on the Boni history is John Gabriel Stedman. Other Maroon tribes still found in Suriname are the Saramaka, the Paramakans, the Ndyuka or Aukan, the Kwinti and the Matawai.
NANNY OF THE MAROONS The history of Africans who were brought to the ‘New World’ as slaves, has been written many times. Today much of this history has been rewritten. New facts have been found. Many things were once written about Africa which were not true. The history of the slave trade and slavery are two examples of this.
It was once written that Africans quietly and gladly accepted their new lands of captivity. Today, enough facts have been written to show that this was not so. It was a great dishonor for the African to be taken from the land of his birth. The majority of Africans resented being taken away to a foreign land. They protested on the west coast of Africa. They protested on board the slave ship. Slave revolts occurred everywhere in the ‘New World'. Revolts in Haiti led to the Africans taking over that country. Haiti became the first Black Republic in the world. Revolts also took place in Brazil, the U.S.A. and the Caribbean.
A depiction of Nanny with back turned, facing the moon and hand thrusting upward holding an abeng.
On board the slave ship, many slaves would often jump overboard. Some would starve themselves. They preferred death than to become slaves on foreign soil. The African believed that after death the soul would rise again to a new life in his fatherland.
We have been told that these Africans were already slaves in Africa. But slavery in Africa was a different form of slavery.
People became slaves in Africa in various ways. Some were prisoners of war. Those captured in a war between two African communities were made slaves. Some became slaves as punishment for crimes they had done. Some sold themselves and their families into slavery during famine. They did this to avoid death by starvation.
Slaves in Africa could often buy their freedom. They were protected against extreme cruelty by their customs. A slave was regarded as a person. In Africa a female slave could become her master’s wife. There were some cases in Africa where slaves rose to become kings.
When Africans were brought into the ‘New World’ as slaves, it was to a way of life they had never known. The European slave traders and masters were very cruel to their slaves. They were not looked upon as equal human beings. They were to be worked and bred. They were slaves for life. The slave masters tried in many ways to make Africans forget the land of their birth. They tried in many ways to break their slaves’ spirit.
As soon as there was a chance for escape and revolt, the slave masters had problems. The punishments for escaping and revolt were very cruel. Sometimes slave owners cut off the legs of slaves for running away. But many of the slaves still ran away to build their own villages in the bush.
Jamaica was not different from the other places to which Africans were carried as slaves. The first Africans were brought by the Spaniards in 1517.
When the British attacked Jamaica, the Spaniards and their slaves ran into the mountains. There the African slaves helped the Spaniards to fight the British.
In 1655, the British captured Jamaica from the Spaniards. The Spaniards fled from the island. Their slaves fled to various parts of the island.
The British were now faced with great problems. These Africans who were slaves to the Spaniards, fought continuously against them. These former Spanish slaves became the Maroons. The Maroons were made up of more than one African tribe.
When the Spaniards fled, the slave trade grew under the British. Many slaves now entering Jamaica came from the Gold Coast area in West Africa. The Gold Coast is now known as Ghana. They were shipped through a slave port called Koromanti. At that time the port was controlled by the British. Most of the slaves who came down to Koromanti were from the Ashanti tribe. These slaves were called Koromantees (and Koroniantyns by some). They were very brave, strong and proud people.
The Maroons encouraged slaves to run away. They also raided plantations and set slaves free. Those who escaped from slavery often joined the Maroons.
The British tried to conquer the Maroons. They failed to conquer them. The British Government saw that it was costing too much money and too many lives to fight them. They saw it best to make peace with them.
In 1739 the British signed a treaty with some of the Maroons. In 1740 they signed a second treaty with another Maroon group. The Maroons were given land and rights as free men. But in return they were to stop fighting the British. They were to help recapture new run-away slaves.
Some Maroons refused to sign any treaty with the British. Nanny was among those who refused to sign.
You can support Wikipedia by making a tax-deductible donation.Tadeusz Kościuszko
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Tadeusz Kościuszko
Portrait by Kazimierz Wojniakowski
Place of birth Mereszowszczyzna, Polish Commonwealth
Place of death Solothurn, Switzerland
Years of service 1765–94
Rank Generał dywizji
Battles/wars American Revolutionary War, Polish-Russian War of 1792, Kościuszko Uprising
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko ([taˈdɛuʂ kɔɕˈt͡ɕuʂkɔ] ( listen); February 4, 1746 – October 15, 1817) was a Polish-Lithuanian[1] military leader who is regarded as a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and the United States.[2] He led the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising against Imperial Russia and Kingdom of Prussia as Supreme Commander of the National Armed Force (Najwyższy Naczelnik Siły Zbrojnej Narodowej). [3]
Prior to commanding the 1794 Uprising, he had fought in the American Revolutionary War as a colonel in the Continental Army. In 1783, in recognition of his dedicated service, he had been brevetted by the Continental Congress to the rank of brigadier general and had become a naturalized citizen of the United States.
There are several Anglicized spellings of Kościuszko's name. Perhaps the most frequently-occurring is Thaddeus Kosciusko, though the full "Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciusko" is also seen. In Lithuanian, Kościuszko's name is rendered as Tadas Kosciuška or Tadeušas Kosciuška. In Belarusian, it is Тадэвуш Касцюшка (Tadevuš Kaściuška).
Contents [hide]
1 Life
1.1 Early life
1.2 France
1.3 First return
1.4 Dresden, Paris
1.5 American Revolution
1.6 Poland again
1.7 Defense of Constitution
1.8 Emigré
1.9 Kościuszko Uprising
1.10 Later life
2 Commemorations
3 See also
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
[edit] Life
[edit] Early life
Kościuszko's birthplace
Family coat-of-armsKościuszko was born in Mereczowszczyzna, now an abandoned village in Belarus. He was the son of Polish noble Ludwik Tadeusz Kościuszko and Tekla, née Ratomska. He was the youngest child in a family whose lineages are traced to Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility[4] and to a 15th–16th–century courtier of King Sigismund I the Old, Konstanty Fiodorowicz Kostiuszko.[5] By the time of his birth, the family possessed modest holdings in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.[4] His first language may have been Belarusian, and he was christened in both the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic religions.[2] As a result of the dual baptisms, he bore the names Andrei and Tadeusz.[2]
In 1765 King Stanisław August Poniatowski created the Szkoła Rycerska (Knight Academy), a school that was to educate a cadre of well-educated officers and state officials. On December 18, 1765, Tadeusz Kościuszko entered the newly-formed school, becoming a member of the Corps of Cadets. Apart from military-related subjects, he also studied the history of Poland, world history, philosophy, Latin, the Polish, German and French languages, and law, economics, geography, arithmetic, geometry and engineering. Upon graduation, he was promoted to captain.
[edit] France
In 1769 Kościuszko and his colleague Orłowski were granted a royal scholarship and on October 5 they set off for Paris. There Kościuszko briefly studied in the Academy of Fine Arts, but soon realized that the career of a painter was not what he dreamed of. As a foreigner he could not apply for any of the French military academies, and he lacked the funds to study engineering. For five years, however, Kościuszko educated himself as an extern, frequenting lectures and the libraries of the Paris military academies. His stay in pre-revolutionary France had a tremendous influence on his later political views.
[edit] First return
By the First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in 1772, the adjoining countries of Russia, Prussia and Austria annexed large swaths of Polish-Lithuanian territory and acquired influence over the internal politics of the reduced Poland and Lithuania. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was forced to cut back its Army to 10,000 men, and when Kościuszko finally returned home in 1774, there was no place for him in the Army. He took a position as tutor in the family of a provincial governor and fell in love with his pupil Ludwika Sosnowska. They eloped but were overtaken by her father's retainers.[4] Kościuszko received a thrashing at their hands — an event which may have led to his later antipathy to class distinctions.[4] In autumn of 1775 he decided to emigrate.
[edit] Dresden, Paris
In late 1775 Kościuszko arrived in Dresden, where he wanted to join either the Saxon court or the elector's army. However, he was refused and decided to travel back to Paris. There he was informed of the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, in which the British colonies in North America revolted against the crown and started the fight for independence. The first American successes were well publicized in France and the cause of the revolutionaries was openly supported by the French people, whose government also supported the Americans.
[edit] American Revolution
Kościuszko came to America on his own,[6] and on August 30, 1776 he presented a Memorial to Congress. He initially served as a volunteer, but on October 18, 1776, Congress commissioned him a Colonel of Engineers in the Continental Army. At the recommendation of Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski and General Charles Lee, Kościuszko was named head engineer of the Continental Army.
Kościuszko House, Philadelphia
Kościuszko's portrait of Thomas JeffersonHe was sent to Pennsylvania to work with the Continental Army. Shortly after arriving, he read the United States Declaration of Independence. Kościuszko was moved by the document because it encompassed everything in which he believed; he was so moved, in fact, that he decided to meet Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration. The two met in Virginia a few months later. After spending the day discussing philosophy and other things they shared in common, they became very close friends. Kościuszko was a guest at Monticello on many occasions, and spent prolonged visits there.
Kościuszko's first task in America was the fortification of Philadelphia. His first structure was the construction of Fort Billingsport.[7] On September 24, 1776, Kościuszko was ordered to fortify the banks of the Delaware River against a possible British crossing. In the spring of 1777 he was attached to the Northern Army under General Horatio Gates. As the chief engineer of the army he commanded the construction of several forts and fortified military camps along the Canadian border. His work made substantial contributions to the successful American retreat from the battle of Ticonderoga and the victory at Saratoga in 1777.
After the battle, Kościuszko was regarded as one of the best engineers in American service and George Washington gave him command of military engineering works at the stronghold in West Point. Then he asked to be transferred to the Southern Army, where he also made substantial contributions to the American victories.
After seven years of service, on October 13, 1783, Kościuszko was promoted by Congress to the rank of brigadier general. He also received American citizenship and a grant of land and was admitted to the prestigious Society of the Cincinnati and to the American Philosophical Society. When he was leaving America, he wrote a last will, naming Thomas Jefferson the executor and leaving his property in America to be used to buy the freedom of black slaves, including Jefferson's, and to educate them for independent life and work.[8] Several years after Kosciuszko's death, Jefferson pled an inability to act as executor, an action deprecated by the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and Jefferson historian Merrill Peterson. The U.S. Supreme Court awarded the estate to Kosciuszko's descendants in 1852.[9]
[edit] Poland again
Kościuszko, by Juliusz KossakIn July 1784 Kościuszko set off for Poland, where he arrived on August 12. He settled in his home village of Siechnowicze. The property, administered by Tadeusz's brother-in-law, brought a small but stable income, and Kościuszko decided to limit his serfs' corvée to two days a week, while completely exempting female serfs. This move was seen by local szlachta (nobility) as a sign of Kościuszko's dangerous liberalism.
By that time the internal situation in Poland changed rapidly. A strong yet still informal group of politicians underlined the need of reforms and strengthening of the state. Notable political writers like Stanisław Staszic and Hugo Kołłątaj promoted the ideas of granting the serfs and the burghers more rights and strengthening the central authorities. These ideas were supported by a large part of the szlachta, who also wanted to overthrow the foreign dictate and meddling in Poland's internal affairs.
Finally the Sejm Wielki of 1788–1792 started the necessary reforms. One of the first acts of the new parliament assumed the creation of a 100,000 men strong army to defend the borders of Poland against her aggressive neighbors. Kościuszko saw it as a chance to return to military service and serve his country in the field he had the most experience. He applied for the army and on October 12, 1789, received the royal nomination to Major General. As such he also started receiving a high salary of 12,000 złotys a year, which ended his financial difficulties.
The internal situation in Poland and the reforms of the May Constitution of Poland, the first constitution written in the modern era in Europe and second in the world after the American, were seen by the surrounding powers as a threat to their influence over Polish politics. On May 14, 1792, the conservative magnates created the Confederation of Targowica, which asked the Russian empress Catherine II for help in overthrowing the constitution. On May 18, 1792 a Russian army of 100,000 crossed the Polish border and headed for Warsaw, thus starting the War in Defence of the Constitution.
[edit] Defense of Constitution
Kościuszko wearing order of Virtuti Militari
Virtuti Militari medals, 1792Although the plan to create a 100,000-man Polish Army was not accomplished due to economic problems, the Polish Army was well-trained and prepared for war.
Before the Russians invaded Poland, Kościuszko was appointed deputy commander of Prince Józef Poniatowski's 3rd Crown Infantry Division. When the Prince became Commander in Chief of the entire Polish Army in May 1792, Kościuszko automatically assumed command of the Division.
After Prussia's betrayal of her Polish ally, the Army of Lithuania did not oppose the advancing Russians. The Polish Army was too weak to oppose the enemy advancing into Ukraine and withdrew to the western side of the Bug River, where it regrouped and counterattacked. Victorious in the Battle of Zieleńce (June 18, 1792), Kościuszko was among the first to receive the newly-created Virtuti Militari medal, Poland's highest military decoration even today.
In the ensuing Battles of Włodzimierz (July 17, 1792) and Dubienka (July 18) Kościuszko repulsed the numerically superior enemy and came to be regarded as one of Poland's most brilliant military commanders of the time. On August 1, 1792, King Stanisław August promoted him to Lieutenant General. But before the nomination arrived at Kościuszko's camp in Sieciechów, the King had joined the ranks of the Targowica Confederation and surrendered to the Russians.
[edit] Emigré
Kościuszko at Racławice (April 4 1794, during Kościuszko Uprising). Part of painting by Matejko.The King's capitulation was a hard blow for Kościuszko, who had not lost a single battle in the campaign. Together with many other notable Polish commanders and politicians he fled to Dresden and then to Leipzig, where the emigrées began preparing an uprising against Russian rule in Poland. The politicians, grouped around Ignacy Potocki and Hugo Kołłątaj, sought contacts with similar opposition groups formed in Poland and by spring 1793 had been joined by other politicians and revolutionaries, including Ignacy Działyński.
On August 26, 1792, the French Legislative Assembly awarded Kościuszko with honorary citizenship of France in honor of his fight for freedom of his fatherland and the ideas of equality and liberty. After two weeks in Leipzig, Kościuszko set off for Paris, where he tried to gain French support of the planned uprising in Poland.
On January 13, 1793, Prussia and Russia signed the Second Partition of Poland, which was ratified by the Sejm of Grodno on June 17. Such an outcome was a giant blow for the members of Targowica Confederation who saw their actions as a defense of centuries-old privileges of the magnates, but now were regarded by the majority of the Polish population as traitors. After the partition Poland became a small country of roughly 200,000 square kilometres and a population of approximately 4 million. The economy was ruined and the support for the cause of an uprising grew significantly, especially since there was no serious opposition to the idea after the Targowica Confederation was discredited.
In June of 1793 Kościuszko prepared a plan of an all-national uprising, mobilization of all the forces and a war against Russia. The preparations in Poland were slow and he decided to postpone the outbreak. However, the situation in Poland was changing rapidly. The Russian and Prussian governments forced Poland to again disband the majority of her armed forces and the reduced units were to be drafted to the Russian army. Also, in March the tsarist agents discovered the group of revolutionaries in Warsaw and started arresting notable Polish politicians and military commanders. Kościuszko was forced to execute his plan earlier than planned and on March 15, 1794 he set off for Kraków.
[edit] Kościuszko Uprising
Kościuszko swears oath in Kraków's Market Square, March 24 1794Main article: Kościuszko Uprising
During the Uprising, Kościuszko was made Naczelnik (Commander-in-Chief) of all Polish-Lithuanian forces fighting against Russian occupation, and issued the famous Proclamation of Połaniec. After initial successes following the Battle of Racławice, he was wounded in the Battle of Maciejowice and taken prisoner by the Russians, who imprisoned him in Saint Petersburg—Kościuszko was held at Prince Orlov's Marble Palace. The uprising ended soon afterwards with the Siege of Warsaw.
[edit] Later life
Solothurn house where Kościuszko was living at time of his deathIn 1796 Tsar Paul I of Russia pardoned Kościuszko and set him free. In exchange for his oath of loyalty, Paul I also freed some 20,000 Polish political prisoners held in Russian prisons and forcibly settled in Siberia. The Tsar granted Kościuszko 12,000 roubles, which the Polish leader attempted in 1798 to return; the Tsar refused to accept it back as "money from a traitor".
Kościuszko emigrated to the United States, but the following year returned to Europe and in 1798 settled in Breville, near Paris. Still devoted to the Polish cause, he took part in creating the Polish Legions. Also, on October 17 and November 6, 1799 he met with Napoleon Bonaparte. However, he failed to reach any agreement with the French leader, who regarded Kościuszko as a "fool" who "overestimated his influence" in Poland (letter from Napoleon to Fouché, 1807).
Kościuszko remained politically active in Polish émigré circles in France and in 1799 was a founding member of the Society of Polish Republicans. However, he did not return to the Duchy of Warsaw and did not join the reborn Polish Army allied with Napoleon. Instead, after the fall of Napoleon's empire in 1815 he met with Russia's Tsar Alexander I in Braunau. In return for his prospective services, Kościuszko demanded social reforms and territorial gains for Poland, which he wished to reach as far as the Dvina and Dnieper Rivers in the east.
Latin plaque on Solothurn house, living in which Kościuszko "gave up his great soul".Alexander asked him to go to Warsaw. However, soon afterwards, in Vienna, Kościuszko learned that the Kingdom of Poland created by the Tsar would be even smaller than the earlier Duchy of Warsaw. Kościuszko called such an entity "a joke";[10] and when he received no reply to his letters to the Tsar, he left Vienna and moved to Solothurn, Switzerland, where his friend Franciszek Zeltner was mayor. Suffering from poor health and old wounds, on October 15 1817 Kościuszko died there of typhoid fever.[11] Two years earlier, he had emancipated his serfs.
Kościuszko's body was embalmed and placed in a crypt at Solothurn's Jesuit Church. His viscera, removed in the process of embalming, were separately interred in a graveyard at Zuchwil, near Solothurn, except for the heart, for which an urn was fashioned. In 1818 Kościuszko's body was transferred to Kraków, Poland, and placed in a crypt at Wawel Cathedral, a pantheon of Polish kings and national heroes. Kościuszko's heart, which had been preserved at the Polish Museum in Rapperswil, Switzerland, was in 1927, along with the rest of the Museum's holdings, repatriated to Warsaw, where the heart now reposes in a chapel at the Royal Castle. Kościuszko's other viscera remain interred at Zuchwil, where a large memorial stone was erected in 1820 and can be visited today, next to a Polish memorial chapel.[12][13]
[edit] Commemorations
Kosciuszko statue, erected 1978 in Detroit—a gift from the people of Krakow, Poland, in celebration of the United States Bicentennial.[14]
Kosciuszko statue, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C.
Kosciuszko statue, Boston Public Garden, Boston, MassachusettsAs a national hero of both Poland and the United States, Kościuszko has given his name to many places around the world. The Polish explorer Count Paweł Edmund Strzelecki named the highest mountain in continental Australia, Mount Kosciuszko, for him; the mountain is now the central point of Kosciuszko National Park.
He has also given his name to Kosciusko, Mississippi and Kosciusko, Texas; Kosciusko County, Indiana; Kosciusko Island in Alaska; New York State's two Kosciuszko Bridges (in Latham on I-87 just north of Albany; and on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway); Kosciuszko Street (BMT Jamaica Line); the Kosciuszko Bridge that crosses the Naugatuck River in Naugatuck, Connecticut; Kosciuszko Street in Brooklyn, New York; Kosciuszko Street in Manchester, New Hampshire; Kosciuszko Street in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania; Kosciuszko Way in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Kosciuszko Park in Stamford, Connecticut; Kosciuszko Street in South Bend, Indiana, Kosciusko Street in Woburn, Massachusetts, and Thaddeus Kosciusko Way in downtown Los Angeles, California.
Monmouth, Illinois, was to be called Kosciuszko after that name was drawn from a hat around 1831. It was decided that Kosciuszko would be too hard to pronounce, so Monmouth was selected as an alternative.
There is a Tadeusz Kościuszko Monument by the entrance to the Wawel Castle in Kraków Old Town where he's laid to rest,[15] Its replica was erected in Detroit, Michigan in 1978 (pictured). There is an equestrian statue of him at Kosciuszko Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, across from the Polish Basilica of St. Josaphat, and other statues, in Boston Public Garden; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Chicago's Museum Campus on Solidarity Drive; Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C.; the United States Military Academy at West Point; Williams Park in St. Petersburg, Florida; and Red Bud Springs Memorial Park in Kosciusko, Mississippi; in Kosciuszko Park in East Chicago, Indiana; and (with Kazimierz Pulaski) in Poland, Ohio, a village named in honor of the two heroes of the American Revolution.
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, his Revolutionary War home is preserved as Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, administered as part of Independence National Historical Park; and a monument to him stands at the corner of Benjamin Franklin Parkway and 18th Street. Hamtramck, Michigan, has a Kosciuszko Middle School; Chicago, a public park named for him in Logan Square; and East Chicago, Indiana, a public park (with statue), a school and a neighborhood, all bearing Kosciuszko's name. Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania has a Polish Falcons Sportsman's Club named after Kosciuszko. There is a Kosciusko Way in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, there is a club called Kosciuszko Hall.
Piast eagle worn by 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry DivisionThere are also streets named for Kościuszko in Saint Petersburg, Russia; downtown Belgrade, Serbia (Ulica Tadeuša Košćuška); Budapest, Hungary (Kosciuszkó Tádé utca); and Vilnius, Lithuania (Kosciuškos gatvė). There is also a Kosciusko Avenue in Geelong, VIC, Australia. There is even a small street named after him in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In Poland, every major town has a street or square named for Kościuszko. Between 1820 and 1823, the people of Kraków built the Kościuszko Mound (Polish: Kopiec Kościuszki w Olkuszu) to commemorate the Polish leader. A similar mound was built in 1861 at Olkusz.
He is the patron of Kraków University of Technology, Wrocław Military University, and countless other schools and gymnasia throughout Poland.
Emblem of 303 SquadronHe was the patron of the 1st Regiment of the Polish 5th Rifle Division, and of the 1st Division of the Polish 1st Army. After World War I the Kościuszko Squadron, and during World War II the 303rd Polish Squadron, were named for him. Two ships have been named for him: SS Kościuszko, and ORP Generał Tadeusz Kościuszko (a former United States Navy frigate that was transferred to Poland).
Thomas Jefferson called Kościuszko "as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known."
Mikael Dziewanowski claims he was a "pioneer of emancipation and a spokesman for racial democracy and justice in eighteenth-century America."[16]
[edit] See also
List of Poles
[edit] Notes
^ Gordon McLachlan. Lithuania. 2008, p.20
^ a b c George A. Krol. "Tadeusz Kosciuszko Monument Unveiled in Minsk". Belarusan-American Association, Inc.. http://www.belreview.cz/articles/2932.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-24.
^ Bartłomiej Szyndler, Powstanie kościuszkowskie 1794, Warszawa 1994, passim.
^ a b c d Lituanus (No. 1 - Spring 1986). http://www.lituanus.org/1986/86_1_03.htm. Retrieved on 2009-02-24.
^ Tadeusz Korzon, Kościuszko, biografia z dokumentów wysnuta. Kraków, Warszawa, 1894.
^ Martin I.J. Griffin. Catholics and the American Revolution. p. 133. http://books.google.com/books?id=-OdphE7yhXwC&pg=PA133&lpg=PA133&dq=deane+kosciusko&source=bl&ots=Ebq_qHb-jK&sig=4Yt_alxphlmqQ5RsQ-VerrVj3kQ&hl=en&ei=6TnySZvALpjCMa3R6c8P&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7.
^ Colimore, Edward (December 10, 2007). "Fighting to save remains of a fort". Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_region/20071210_Fighting_to_save_remains_of_a_fort.html.
^ Kościuszko's American last will and testament, in English translation in Manfred Kridl, ed., For Your Freedom and Ours.
^ Gary B. Nash and Graham Russell Gao Hodges. "Why We Should All Regret Jefferson's Broken Promise to Kościuszko". History News Network. http://hnn.us/articles/48794.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-30.
^ Feliks Koneczny - "Święci w dziejach Narodu Polskiego".
^ For your freedom and ours, the Kościuszko squadron, Olson&Cloud, pg 22, Arrow books ISBN 0-09-942812-1
^ Gemeinde Zuchwil (German)
^ Kościuszko Mound: Biography
^ Zacharias, Pat, The Monuments of Detroit, September 5, 1999. Detroit News
^ Rick Steves, Cameron Hewitt, Rick Steves' Best of Eastern Europe 2007 by Avalon
^ Mikael Dziewanowski's "Tadeuz Kościuszko, Kazimierz Puaski, and the American War of Independence," in Jaraslaw Pelenki, ed., The American and European Revolutions, 1776-1848: Sociopolitical and Ideological Aspects; Proceedings of the Second Bicentennial Conference of Polish and American Historians, September 29 — October 1 1976 (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1980).
[edit] References
Manhattan plaque honoring KościuszkoPula, James S. (1998). Thaddeus Kosciuszko: The Purest Son of Liberty. Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0781805767.
Niestsiarchuk, Leanid (2006) (in Belarusian). Андрэй Тадэвуш Банавентура Касцюшка: Вяртаннегероя нарадзіму (Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kosciuszko: Return of the Hero to his Motherland). ISBN 9856665930.
Nash, Gary B.; Graham Russell Gao Hodges (2008). Friends of Liberty: Thomas Jefferson, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, and Agrippa Hull. Basic Books. ISBN 9780465048144.
Storozynski, Alex (2009). The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and The Age of Revolution, Thomas Dunne Books,ISBN 978-0-312-38802-7,ISBN 0-312-38802-0
Manfred Kridl, ed., For Your Freedom and Ours.
[edit] External links
Wikisource has original works written by or about:
Tadeusz Kościuszko Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Tadeusz Kościuszko
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tadeusz Kościuszko
The Peasant Prince (Unknown story of Kosciuszko’s life, liberty and pursuit of tolerance during the age of revolution)Storozynski, Alex (2009). The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and The Age of Revolution, Thomas Dunne Books, ISBN 978-0-312-38802-7, ISBN 0-312-38802-0
Thaddeus Kosciuszko as an Artist (book about the Polish-American hero.)
Kosciuszko by Monica Mary Gardner
The Kosciuszko Foundation. (Polish-American cultural foundation named for General Tadeusz Kosciuszko.)
Mt. Kosciuszko Inc. Webpage of Australia's Mt. Kosciuszko Association (named for Australia's highest mountain peak).
About.com feature on Tadeusz Kosciuszko.
Polish Embassy in the United States: a tribute page.
US Kosciuszko National Monument web site.
Kosciuszko Polish-American Historical Society, Inc., of the Valley Ansonia - Derby - Shelton - Seymour, Connecticut.
Kosciuszko monuments gallery.
Tadeusz Kościuszko at Find-a-grave.
Unknown Kościuszko manuscript (Nieznany rękopis Tadeusza Kościuszki).
Photographs of Mereszowszczyzna manor in Belarus.
A humorous biographical comic about Kościuszko.
Will of Thaddeus Kosciuszko.
Henri La Fayette Villaume Ducoudray Holstein. Le Glaneur Francais, Number One. pp. 251–252. http://books.google.com/books?id=SDABAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA240&dq=maubourg&lr=#PPA251,M1.
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Categories: People from Brest Voblast | Polish generals | Polish politicians | Polish nobility | Lithuanian generals | Lithuanian engineers | Lithuanian nobility | Recipients of Virtuti Militari | Continental Army generals | Polish people of the American Revolution | Naturalized citizens of the United States | Kościuszko insurgents | People of the Polish–Russian War of 1792 | Polish engineers | Polish Catholics | Burials at the Chapel of the Royal Castle, Warsaw | 1746 births | 1817 deaths
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Rastafari Itinual blessings
The greatest tool in the hands of the oppressor is the minds of the oppressor .We are looking forward to non-racial .just and equal society in which colour ,religion and race shall form no point of reference .we cannot be conscious of ourselves and yet remain in bondage ... Steven Biko
The challenge is to better InI status as set out by the great African Liberator Steve Biko, his life is a living testimony, and his instruction to InI is clear precise...
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Herbert Spencer said: The wise man must remember that while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future.
Food clothes and shelter must be guaranteed, within Rastafari sustainable communities –Not sure of the number of these communities at the moment, but what I have I served is that majority of Rastafari are caught up in concrete jungle living, however the Inciency and the modern must have a relationship, each one must be unlighted on what the other is doing.
No time to be a house slave and spy on the field slave.
Know that Rastafari is livity, where ever you are, be a defender of the faith.
The Nyah Binghi Order stand as the vanguard of Rastafari affairs .The movement arose on the basis of various social grievances both within and without society .Within society the Nyah Binghi movement was against the ruling classes, from without it was against, colonialism now neo- colonialism
The force of the Nyah Binghi is word sound and powah, earth quake, lightening and thundah not guns and bayonets
Due to the absence of organize political forums, which would build on leadership to defend the rights of the people, the oppressed ,especially the youths were forced to defend themselves by gang culture of don man bad man which has being the scourge of society
Rastafari leadership was requested, but the liberation out cry of Repatriation and Reparation over shadowed everything even to this day.
Nyah Binghi is the a solid ideology of peasant struggle, however the middle and upper class who have found renewed strength in the fundamental principles of the Nyah Binghi must now cast off all semblance colonial upbringing and hold the mantle of African liberation ,along with equal rights and justice for mankind
One of the major weaknesses of many is the misconception or belief that the Nyah Binghi is a religion, of ceaseless chanters
InI will not argue about the divinity of Qadamawi Haile Selassie who states that religion is personal and the state is for all-seen Fiya
The mindset of Nyah Binghi Ingels cannot be fathomed by text book mentality, or from the singers and players of instruments, only ones who are guided by the divine presence Qadamawi Haile Selassie, will know the fullness.
The trod is a careful one, the Nyah Binghi have exposed the enemies strength and weaknesses, new methods of survival have being devised , however the movement is not an organized armed movement like a state .its strength is moral persuasion, the powah of Good over Evil. and Right over Wrong.
Yes I
Ras Flako Tafari –Kesete Birhan
"We can do things together" We can do things together You and i we can go upon the Ocean and even in the sky Walk a country road You and i We can see the light In the darkness You and i And live without fear You and i If you would only want me near You and i I can see it clear The bombs dissapear I can see it It is all too clear When the fire comes Will you hold me near To burn the Evil The Evil out of here We can do things together You and i Run free And we wont cry When the buildings crumble And takes away the slums When the fire comes We can do things together Build a new place And no division Just a Human race We can do things together And see your face And set from this prison The fire is burning And getting hot Will you say you Love me Or Love me not We can do things together Like it should have been Before that wicked That wicked Sin. i...June 9, 2009
I have been trying to figure out why some are lost and do not have a clue.My conclusion is...they do not care. They only care about them...it`s all about them.A Wombman just said to i...yesterday.." There is no fire comming"! This tell i...she is unaware of current events. She has no relationship with the Creator what so ever. All the Genius`s have dissapeared...you know...the ones who had all the solutions. They are hiding...because they disscovered..Hey...there is a God. They are embarassed to show thier face. All the Atheists...and all the Agnostics...have all hid. They found out..there is a God. It`s a shame ..all those great minds....destroyed...because they are not the King...any longer...the problem is...they never were the King. It was God ...who is the King...all along...Too bad.
No one has to like what i say...or like me. It is not my job to rid the Earth of Satan and Demons.However....if things are harmful to ones ...i will try to rid the harm.i am not perfect..but i try to do the right thing. To tolerate these issues is to let them creep up little by little. Even recently...a serise called Twilight ..is in the spotlight...and very popular. Why? Don`t you know this promotes child abduction? And Human sacrifice... Yes child abduction. But ones who do not have a child...will say "who Cares"....and the Witches love it. Witches cannot wait to get thier hands on some victims. Some say they are "White Witches"....White witch ...black witch ...green witch...blue witch...they are still witches. They promote Evil.While some are chanting Love ..the Witches are chanting hate.You see it is always the battle for right and wrong. Some want to go to Hell....the problem is...they are trying to drag everyone else with them. Usualy these type of people are cowards.Evil always tries to drag the good ones down with them. Just recently...the dude that shot up the Holocaust Museum. this mother f....er ..is still alive...while an inocent guard is dead...another wounded. Now why? Why didn`t this 88 years old...yes 88 year old Punk...just kill himself quietly? Because...he wants to drag the good ones down with him. This piece of shit had nothing better to do?....like drop dead maybe? 88 years old...this MF is shooting young dudes for no reason...oh ...he is mad! Mad? SO...i am mad too...but i am not going to shot ones because i am mad. If i knew where he is ...or was close to where he is...i would put him out of his misery. He is 88...he has lived and killed...so he deserve to be dead too. He cannot...or even worth the time to take up space. What a waste to keep him alive. For what? He is an old stinky man...and a demon. All he is good for is to suck Social Security dry. And use your tax money up...to kill and promote his hate. And he is only one we know about...what about the thousands more like him? One could be your nieghbor....yes . Like i said...i never have any trouble with terrorists ...from any country... it is usualy my next door nieghbor. And the ones who open businesses here thinking they own the place. Just think since George Bush is gone...what happened to the terrorists? There never was any....it was George who made it all up. Where are they....they are all ..or were working for George Bush...where do you think all the money went? Wake up America,,,stop chillin...and get the Cancer out of your country.
Ok...so Gay men want to marry and adopt children...? Does this not seem odd to anyone? Why would Men..or almost men..want to be in a lifestyle...that does not have sex with Women...want to have children?is it me? or is it just that...they want to breed Gays? Now..if Gay men..do adopt children...boys perhaps? Would they teach little Billy...how to insert his penis into little Johnny? Hold on now...what else would Gay men teach a child? Gay men...are only thinking of sex.....i know..i have been around plenty of them...so i know what i am talking about. It seems to me...they are bullying the Goverments to enforce gay marraiage. And what about the Lesbians? OH BOY...the Lesbians....it`s a similar issue. Why would gay Women want to have a child since doing it the Right way is not good for them. They hate men. Not only that..it would not be thier child..and what about the child...are not children confused enough these days? The only answer is...They want to breed Gays...it does not take a Genius to figure it out. I say since the Governments that are allowing it...the Leaders are Gay ! What a shame !
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