(1824-1899) 20th-century copy of Kazmierz Pulaski defending Czestochowa, after the original of 1883, oil on canvas, 105 x 200 cm, framed, (Rei)

Kazimierz Micha? Wac?aw Wiktor Pu?aski
(in the USA also known as Casimir Pulaski, *6 March 1745 in Warsaw; † 11 October 1779 near Savannah, GA) was a Polish aristocrat, one of the leading military commanders for the Bar Confederation and a general in the Continental Army in the American War of Independence.

He belonged to a family of the old Polish aristocracy and started his military career as a page of the Polish king and of Prince Carl Christian Joseph of Saxony, Duke of Courland.

He participated in the revolt of the Bar Confederation (1768–1772), a federation of Polish aristocrats that was established at the fortress in Bar with the aim of fighting for Polish independence from Russian hegemony. When the revolt failed, and after a series of rather adventurous episodes, he was recruited by the Marquis de Lafayette and Benjamin Franklin for service in the American War of Independence.
At the head of his Polish cavalry legion, he defeated the British forces on 10 May 1779 near Charleston. He died after being mortally wounded during the siege of Savannah. “Fort Pulanski” in Savannah (GA) was named in his honour. He is regarded as the founder of the American cavalry (“Father of the American Cavalry”).