Return to Pointer View home page April  22,  2005

Polish-American engineer honored at annual ceremony 

Story and photos by Eric S. Bartelt
Senior Staff Writer  

Thaddeus Kosciuszko’s legacy is embedded deep within the history of West Point, so much so the Corps of Cadets erected a pedestal and shaft in his honor in 1828.

Saturday the U.S. Military Academy hosted a celebration of Kosciuszko’s 259th birthday with a Mass, cadet review and wreath-laying ceremony held at his monument.

Kosciuszko used his military engineering know-how to help gain the freedom of the then-fledgling United States from Britain and later helped Poland attempt an uprising from czarist domination.

“It’s not a stretch to say that (Kosciuszko) was one of the founders of West Point and was recognized in the early 19th century by the Corps of Cadets,” said Lt. Col. Gary Kropkowski, assistant professor of law here and a guest speaker at the Kosciuszko ceremony. “Without his engineering expertise perhaps the fortifications here would have looked very different.

“That’s what Gen. [George] Washington recognized when he asked him to become the main engineer during the American Revolution,” he added.

At first, Kosciuszko didn’t want to impose his own plans as a foreigner on the fortifications at Fort Ticonderoga. All that changed once the fort fell to the British. Then he encumbered British General John Burgoyne’s advance down the Hudson with his fortifications at the decisive Battle of Saratoga in Oct. 1777.

Kosciuszko continued to build fortifications along the Hudson approaches, including West Point

After America’s independence, he returned to Poland to try to help his country gain independence against powerful neighboring countries, but the “Kosciuszko Uprising” didn’t succeed.

“He was a fiery patriot who tried to go back and fight for Polish independence and he’s recognized as such,” Kropkowski said. “He’s a tremendously important historical figure.”

More than three thousand people attended the cadet review and roughly 500 of them ventured to the monument for a wreath-laying ceremony.

Defense and Air Attaché at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington D.C., Brig. Gen. Kazimierz Sikorski told attendees about Kosciuszko’s contributions.

“Kosciuszko paved the way for those who followed him, the brotherhood of arms and blood, fighting for freedom for yours and ours,” Sikorski said. “The fact that I’m here 200 years after Thaddeus Kosciuszko’s presence speaks (volumes about him). It means that his soul and ideas still are alive today.”

Kosciuszko’s heritage runs back to Belarus where there is a museum opening in his honor in February 2006 that will reproduce his childhood home in the town of Brest.

Leonid Nesterchuk, the chairman of the Thaddeus Kosciuszko Public Association in Brest, Belarus, is a historian who became active in telling Kosciuszko’s story to modern Belarussians in 1996.

“Kosciuszko is not a common person, he’s the hero of two continents in Europe and the United States,” Nesterchuk said. “Kosciuszko belongs not to Poland, Belarus or America; he belongs to the whole world. He was the first democrat in Europe and her last Knight, he spoke about human rights (freeing his serfs and educating them), independence and the rights of each nation to be free of war.”

Nesterchuk traveled to the United States in January, including a visit to West Point, to find out more information about Kosciuszko’s life in America and the role he played in the American revolutionary movement. His hopes are to gather as much information and museum pieces he can before its opening.

“I hope that all nations connected with his name will help provide some artifacts for the museum,” Nesterchuk said.

At the ceremony, Kropkowski said he was honored at the chance to speak for Kosciuszko and, at the same time, have a sense of connection to nationality.

“It’s very important to have a sense of connection with your roots and that’s very important to me,” Kropkowski said. “As a West Point graduate and Polish-American, I was thrilled at the opportunity to be a part of this.”