Details
KOSCIUSZKO, THADDEUS (TADEUZ ANDREZEJ BONAWENTURA), Polish Patriot, Brigadier General, Continental Army. Autograph letter signed ("Thad: Kosciuszko") as Colonel of Engineers, to an unknown recipient, 13 October [1780]?. 1 page, 4to, 205 x 170mm. (8 1/4 x 6 3/4 in.), in good condition.
KOSCIUSZKO REQUESTS PROVISIONS PROMISED BY QUARTERMASTER GENERAL THOMAS MIFFLIN
In this phonetically spelled letter in broken English, Kosciuszko, the Polish patriot who travelled to America to assist the Continental Army against the British, asks that the horses and foot soldiers[?] promised him by Quartermaster General Thomas Mifflin be sent as quickly as possible. "I have send [sic] to day very early Prince [a servant?] to get inteligence [sic] exact of the number of Horse and foot and General M[ifflin] [?] promised me to let me know at 2 O klock [sic] in the afternoon to day he is gon[e] him self upon that business and soon. I get [sic] I will let you know by a Dragoon, as to the Infantery [sic][.] [I]f I could have therty [sic] more I believe with thos[e] that are with me would be suficient [sic]. I have the other was about Johnson's Fort wich [sic] soon I will get such inteligence [sic] as could be don [sic] some thing I will communicat [sic] to you."
Kosciuszko (1746-1817) had studied both artillery and philosophy in France. Borrowing money for his passage, he came to America at the beginning of the Revolution and was commissioned by Pennsylvania to design its Delaware River forts. Commissioned a Colonel in the Continental Army, he served with General Horatio Gates at Saratoga, where his selection and fortification of the Saratoga battlefield made possible the American victory that marked the turning point of the war" (Boatner). He designed the important fortifications at West Point and was later chief engineer in the Southern Department under General Nathaniel Greene, where he spent the remainder of the war. He returned to Poland in 1784.
KOSCIUSZKO REQUESTS PROVISIONS PROMISED BY QUARTERMASTER GENERAL THOMAS MIFFLIN
In this phonetically spelled letter in broken English, Kosciuszko, the Polish patriot who travelled to America to assist the Continental Army against the British, asks that the horses and foot soldiers[?] promised him by Quartermaster General Thomas Mifflin be sent as quickly as possible. "I have send [sic] to day very early Prince [a servant?] to get inteligence [sic] exact of the number of Horse and foot and General M[ifflin] [?] promised me to let me know at 2 O klock [sic] in the afternoon to day he is gon[e] him self upon that business and soon. I get [sic] I will let you know by a Dragoon, as to the Infantery [sic][.] [I]f I could have therty [sic] more I believe with thos[e] that are with me would be suficient [sic]. I have the other was about Johnson's Fort wich [sic] soon I will get such inteligence [sic] as could be don [sic] some thing I will communicat [sic] to you."
Kosciuszko (1746-1817) had studied both artillery and philosophy in France. Borrowing money for his passage, he came to America at the beginning of the Revolution and was commissioned by Pennsylvania to design its Delaware River forts. Commissioned a Colonel in the Continental Army, he served with General Horatio Gates at Saratoga, where his selection and fortification of the Saratoga battlefield made possible the American victory that marked the turning point of the war" (Boatner). He designed the important fortifications at West Point and was later chief engineer in the Southern Department under General Nathaniel Greene, where he spent the remainder of the war. He returned to Poland in 1784.