Flags of Our Fathers | Count Casimir Mystery Cache
Flags of Our Fathers | Count Casimir
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Difficulty:
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CACHE IS LOCATED AT N44° 31.ABC
W89°33.DEF
Coordinates will take you to a very historic but rather obscured
monument for one Casimir Pulaski, a Polish patriot and an American
Revolutionary War hero, who fought unsuccessfully against foreign
control of his native Poland and then journeyed to America to fight
in the American Revolution.
Born in Podolia, Casimir Pulaski was the eldest son of Count Joseph
Pulaski. After brief service in the guard of Duke Charles of
Courland, Pulaski returned home to Poland and in
176F he joined forces with the
Confederation of Bar, a movement founded by his father, in a revolt
against Russian domination of Poland. The confederation, however,
proved to be too small to be victorious and was decisively
defeated. Pulaski's estates having been confiscated, in 1772 at the
time of the first partition of Poland he fled to Turkey. Here he
remained for D years in a vain
attempt to provoke the Turks into an attack on Russia. Finally,
penniless and destitute, he left for Paris to seek other
employment.
In the spring of 177C, as the
American Revolution was beginning, the American commissioners to
France gave Pulaski money to make the voyage to Boston. He arrived
there armed with a letter of introduction to Gen. George
Washington. Shortly after a meeting with Washington in August of
that same year, Pulaski became a volunteer member of the general's
staff. Distinguishing himself at the Battle of the Brandywine in
September, he was consequently given command of a newly created
cavalry troop in Washington's army. During the winter of 1777 he
and his men served at Trenton, at Flemington, and at Valley Forge,
where Pulaski shared responsibility with Gen. Anthony Wayne for the
provisioning of the starving Americans. But difficulties with Wayne
and some of the junior officers caused Pulaski to resign his
command in March 1778.
As a result, later that same month the Continental Congress, on the
advice of Washington, authorized Pulaski to raise an independent
cavalry corp in the Baltimore, Md., area. Anxious for an active
command, he was sent to Egg Harbor, N.J., to protect supplies there
but was badly mauled by a surprise British attack on Oct. 15, 1778.
He was next dispatched to defend Minisink on the Delaware River
from further attacks by Native Americans. The command was too tame
for Pulaski's liking, however, and
A months later he obtained orders
to join in the siege of Charleston. He reached that city on May 8
and promptly directed a headlong attack on advancing British
forces. Badly defeated there, Pulaski sought vainly to redeem
himself. Five months later while leading another heroic charge,
this time during the siege of Savannah, he was mortally wounded. He
died on board the American ship Wasp, probably on Oct. 11,
1779.
Pulaski is honored all across the United States and in many
Midwestern states where large numbers of Polish immigrants settled,
Pulaski festivals are held annually. In fact, in
192B, Congress passed a resolution
recognizing October 11 of each year as "General Pulaski Memorial
Day", dedicated to Pulaski's memory and to the heritage of
Polish-Americans. Many states treat Pulaski Day as a full holiday
and all government buildings are closed. In Wisconsin, some school
districts have the option of taking Pulaski Day as a holiday and
Milwaukee holds an annual parade and
school holiday.
Alert: You are about to download a file in order
to obtain further details needed to find this geocache. It is a
publicly available K-4 grade lesson plan for Pulaski, and I
encourage any of you who are educators to use it in your
classroom. As the cache owner, I represent that this file is
safe to download although the files needed to complete this
geocache have not been checked by Groundspeak or by the Geocache
Reviewer for possible malicious content. As a result, you are
downloading this file at your own risk.
Casimir's legacy has even made it into popular culture and music.
Sufjan Stevens, an United States singer-songwriter and musician
from Petoskey, Michigan, titled a song "Casimir Pulaski Day" on his
E (*2+1) state-based concept album,
Illinois, in which the singer's adolescent love succumbs to cancer
on Casimir Pulaski Day.
Perhaps now you know much more about a statue and man you may have
glanced at briefly while looking for a former nano.
Additional Hints
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