Happy Casimir Pulaski Day!
What?
Illinoisans enjoying the first Monday in March off from work or school have this Polish count to thank. As Polish Museum of America historian Jan Lorys says, “Casimir Pulaski is one of a dozen volunteers who came to help the Americans in their struggle with the British.
“Most experienced officers serving on the colonial side had experience – like George Washington in the French and Indian Wars – but to defeat the British, you had to fight like the British.”
Chicago has more people of Polish descent than any city other than Warsaw.
“In 1871, the Prussians defeated the French,” said Lorys, “and established the German Empire. And (German Chancellor Otto von) Bismarck starts saying, if you haven’t lived in Germany for two generations, you’re outta here!”
Casimir Pulaski Day has been a state holiday in Illinois since the mid-1980’s. Lorys says not only was Pulaski mortally wounded in the Battle of Savannah, Pulaski has “an easier name to pronounce than Kościuszko,” another Polish hero who fought for the colonials.