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Kazimierz Pulaski (1745–1779) was a Polish freedom fighter, as he is in the book.

At the age of 23, he and his father Jozef were among the founders of the Bar Confederation, in which numerous Polish aristocrats came together to defend their golden freedom.

For five years he fought against the army of Tsarina Catherine II and her former lover and Polish King Stanislaus II August Poniatowski, who had set out to reform the aristocratic republic.

Nonetheless, the Confederation's struggle is considered Poland's first national uprising against Russian dominance.

After the defeat, Kazimierz Pulaski went to Paris, where he was recruited by Benjamin Franklin, ambassador of the settlers of America who rebelled against England.

In their war of independence, he formed the cavalry of the Continental Army into a powerful force, once saved George Washington's life and finally succumbed to his wounds.

Although buried in honor, his secret remained unsolved: he was apparently a woman or intersex.

Pulaski led an equestrian corps for the Polish Confederation of Bar

Source: Wikipedia / Public Domain

At the end of the 1990s, the monument, which commemorated Pulaski in Savannah (Georgia), had to be demolished because it was in disrepair.

A metal box with human bones was discovered.

Specialists from Georgia and Arizona did the analysis.

The Smithonian Channel presented the key findings.

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First of all, it had to be clarified whether the skeleton is really the war hero from Poland.

Height, build, and age seemed to fit Pulaski.

A distinctive bone mutation in the left eye also supported the identification.

According to tradition, Pulaski had a black spot there.

In addition, there were typical skeletal changes, as they are usually found in riders, as well as traces of an injury to the right hand.

Pulaski was also wounded there while fighting Russian troops.

A black spot on the left eye

Source: Public Domain

One hundred percent certainty would only have resulted from a DNA comparison.

The scientists were lucky.

They were able to locate a great niece of Pulaski.

A new analysis showed that both carry the same mitochondrial DNA, i.e. are related to each other.

The bones from Savannah that have since been reburied belong to Kazimierz Pulaski.

“Everything came together,” says Charles Merbs, forensic anthropologist at the University of Arizona who was in charge of the investigation.

“Everything but gender.

The sex was clearly female. ”The pelvis already showed that.

While it is oval in shape in women, it is heart-shaped in men.

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With this astonishing finding, Merbs and the anthropologist Karen Burns of the University of Georgia set out to look for clues in Pulaski's biography.

“We found interesting details,” says Merbs.

Pulaski saved George Washington in the Battle of Brandywine in 1777

Source: picture-alliance / Mary Evans Pi

For example, contrary to the custom of the Polish nobility, Pulaski was not baptized publicly in a church but at home in the closest family circle, an indication of an anatomical anomaly such as the presence of male and female sexual characteristics, which could not be explained at the time.

The father, an influential magnate, military and politician, gave the child a distinctly male upbringing.

Kazimierz Pulaski made a career as an officer.

While his well-known compatriot Tadeusz Kościuszko rose to head the pioneer service of the Continental Army, Pulaski devoted himself to cavalry.

In the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777, not far from Philadelphia, George Washington threatened to be surrounded by the British.

With a bold attack, Pulaski cut a gap through the enemy front and brought the American commander in chief to safety.

It earned him promotion to general.

Since it was difficult for him to fit into the military hierarchy, he was given command of an independent mounted legion.

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Two years later, during the siege of Savannah in October 1779, Pulaski was hit by a grape shot.

He was taken to a ship, where he succumbed to his wounds a few days later.

He went down in history as the "father of the American cavalry" and is still honored today in New York and Chicago with the Pulaski Day Parade.

In 2009 he was made honorary citizenship of the USA.

“I don't think he's ever been a woman in his life,” says Merbs.

“I think he thought he was a man, but something was wrong.” The phenomenon of intersex was unknown at the time.

Anatomical variations would certainly have been interpreted as malformations.

Contemporaries described Pulaski as a loner who was able to display a brusque aloofness when dealing with people.

He showed no interest in women or alcohol.

In combat, on the other hand, he showed courage and even recklessness.

Perhaps, according to Merbs, this was how he tried to prove himself a man.

Pulaski Day Parade in New York in October 2018

Source: picture alliance / NurPhoto

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This article was first published in April 2019.