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