Yet two other presidents made noteworthy memorials dedicated to the greatness of Kosciuszko, William Henry Harrison and John Quincy Adams. A forgotten president known fondly as “Old Tippecanoe,” Harrison was a military and political leader in the Northwest Territories on the American frontier in the years leading up to the War of 1812. A strong supporter of veterans and their families, William Henry Harrison took the floor in Congress on January 20, 1818 upon learning of the death of Kosciuszko and honoured the memory of the Polish volunteer’s devotion to the American cause. He referred to him as “a martyr of liberty” and “a Polish Revolutionary patriot.” He expressed the debt of gratitude owed him by the American people and its political leaders, ending his congressional address in Congress with the following words:

„If, one day, by common world agreement, there should be built a temple dedicated to those who gave the greatest benefits to mankind; and if the statue of our great countryman, Washington was placed in the area designed for the most dignified, just beside him should be placed the statue of Kosciuszko”.

Enjoying a reputation as a western hero and military leader that eventually carried him to the White House in 1841, Harrison was born on a Virginia plantation, his father, Benjamin, being one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was knowledgeable about early life in the western settlements including Cincinnati (formerly Fort Washington). Elected to the 14th Congress in 1816, he was critical of the government’s lack of concern for the welfare of military veterans, including those who had served under him in the War of 1812, His primary cause as Congressman was to provide assistance to war victims and provide pensions for war widows and orphans, a cause Kosciuszko would have whole-heartedly supported. On that January day, he wore a mourning cap of crape urging Congress to consider “proper measures of public respect...not to perpetuate his fame—but our gratitude” to “a martyr of liberty” and “a devoted soldier of liberty.”

Dagerotyp: W.H. Harrison

Dagerotyp: J.Q. Adams

Another president who paid unstinting homage to Kosciuszko was John Quincy Adams. The seventh president of the United States and son of John Adams, he penned a dual biography dedicated to the two greatest foreign freedom fighters of American independence—the Marquis de Lafayette and Tadeusz Kosciuszko published in 1847. Adams played a vital role in promoting American expansion and securing its borders and was instrumental in bringing into being the Monroe Doctrine.

A diplomat and scholar who spent five years at the Russian court during the reigns of Catherine II and Alexander I, Adams had a deep appreciation of Kosciuszko’s virtues as a freedom fighter and as leader of his own people in their efforts to remove the yoke of arbitrary power. What is remarkable about the biography is his overall knowledge of European history and his detailed knowledge of Polish history. Unlike most American scholars, he downplays Kosciuszko’s role in the American Revolutionary war; rather, his focus is of Kosciuszko as man and leader of unimpeachable integrity and as Polish national hero.

Adams relates the events of Kosciuszko’s struggle against the partitioning powers, his relations with the scholarly yet vacillating Stanislaw August, the 1792 war to preserve the May 3 Constitution, the 1794 Uprising culminating in the Battle of Maciejowice, his years of imprisonment in Petersburg and his uncompromising dealings with Napoleon Bonaparte and Alexander I. Adams praises Paul I for his magnanimity in releasing Kosciuszko and rebukes Napoleon for his failure to render sufficient support in resurrecting the Polish homeland.

Adams also paints a sympathetic portrait of Alexander I, who welcomed Kosciuszko to his native homeland and offered him a leading role in the Russian-dominated Congress Kingdom. Yet Adams reveals Kosciuszko’s true uncompromising nature and his staunch commitment to his country in his declaration that he would only return to an independent Poland ruled by a native sovereign.

Adams was moved to resurrect the name of Kosciuszko for his American readers, one he considered to be largely forgotten in his time. He considered it his duty and honor to recount the selfless and disinterested contributions Kosciuszko made to the cause of liberty on two continents. Adams remarked on the Pole’s love for America, and the personal sacrifices he made in promoting its interests. Like Washington, he never abused his power as the head of armies of men who adored the name that bespoke of virtue. Adams provides the portrait of a man free of any false glory or corrupt ambition that would have served to betray his principles and his noble cause.

Adam’s biography, little known to scholars and the general public, praises Kosciuszko as among the most able, disinterested and valiant of its defenders. It is a precious landmark in the annals of American history and the American presidency that, like the monument at West Point and the Kosciuszko Mound in Krakow, is a permanent record and testament of his achievements on behalf of the American and Polish nations and the deepest regard and reverence for his memory held alike by Americans and Poles.

Dr Joel J. Janicki, Taipei, Taiwan
Text submitted to the International Kosciuszko Bicentenary Competition in 2017

J.B. Czedekowski - Kosciuszko w West Point