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Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object name |
Painting |
Title |
Brig. Gen. Casimir Pulaski (1748-1779) |
Artist or maker |
John Ward Dunsmore (1856-1945) |
Date |
1932 |
Place of origin |
United States |
Materials and techniques |
oil on canvas |
Physical description |
Three-quarter portrait of Brigadier General Casimir Pulaski facing right, in a brown interior, wearing a royal blue military jacket with red facing, silver buttons and epaulets; black stock, white jabot, black belt with silver buckle across chest. |
Historical context |
Born of nobility in his native Poland, stripped of his estates and outlawed from the land of his nativity because of his activities as a soldier in the cause of liberty during the Polish-Russian campaigns, Casimir Pulaski offered his services to General Washington. As a partial recognition of his gallant conduct and service at the Battle of Brandywine, he was placed in command of a brigade of calvary, which he held until March 1778. Having organized the Polish Legion, a corps of lancers and light infantry in May 1779, General Pulaski seized the city of Charleston, South Carolina, which he held for the colonial forces against the English until successfully relieved. His actions then became one of the main factors in driving the English troops out of the colony of South Carolina. On October 9, 1779, while leading an assault at the head of his cavalry command during the seige of Savannah, Georgia, General Pulaski received the wound from which he died on board the United States Brig "Wasp" on October 11, 1779. |
Past exhibit |
Dunsmore: Illustrating the American Revolutionary War |
Gallery label |
Noble, Casimir Pulaski was born in Poland. At the age of twenty he was already deeply involved in the Polish uprising against Russian domination in the Bar Confederation of 1768-1772. After Poland lost to Russia, Pulaski became an outlaw in his home country and left for the thirteen colonies to assist in their revolution. He received the rank of Brigadier General and successfully led the seizure and holding of South Carolina for the Continental Army. On October 9, 1779, while leading an assault at the head of his cavalry command during the siege of Savannah, Georgia, Pulaski was wounded. He died three days later. |
Catalogue number |
1932.04.001 |
Collection name |
Paintings and Sculpture |
Credit line |
Gift of the Pulaski Military Club, 1932 |
People |
Pulaski, Casimir Dunsmore, John Ward |