Tadeusz Kościuszko (1746–1817) was a military leader who became a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and the United States. He graduated from the Corps of Cadets in Warsaw, Poland, before studying in France. In 1776, he moved to North America, where he took part in the American Revolutionary War as a colonel in the Continental Army. An accomplished military architect, he designed and oversaw the construction of state-of-the-art fortifications, including those at West Point, New York. He returned to Poland, and was commissioned a major general in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Army in 1789. Two years after the Polish–Russian War of 1792 had resulted in the Second Partition of Poland, he led an uprising against Russia in March 1794. Russian forces captured him at the Battle of Maciejowice, and the defeat of the uprising led to the Third Partition in 1795, which ended Poland's independent existence for 123 years. He was pardoned by Tsar Paul I in 1796 and emigrated to the United States. A close friend of Thomas Jefferson, Kościuszko wrote a will in 1798 dedicating his American assets to the education and freedom of U.S. slaves.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadeusz_Ko%C5%9Bciuszko
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1843:
New Zealand Wars: An armed posse of Europeans set out from Nelson to arrest Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha and clashed with Māori, resulting in 26 deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wairau_Affray
1876:
Great Sioux War: A band of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne attacked a United States Army expedition and its Crow and Shoshone allies in the Battle of the Rosebud. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Rosebud
1900:
Boxer Rebellion: Allied naval forces captured the Taku Forts after a brief but bloody battle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dagu_Forts_(1900)
1963:
Around 2,000 people rioted in South Vietnam, despite the signing of the Joint Communique to resolve the ongoing Buddhist crisis one day earlier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Communique
1994:
Following a police chase along Los Angeles freeways and a failed suicide attempt, actor and former American football player O. J. Simpson was arrested for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
postilion: A rider mounted on the near, leading horse pulling a carriage who guides the team. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/postilion
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
We must abandon the unworkable notion that it is morally reprehensible for some countries to pursue weapons of mass destruction, yet morally acceptable for others to rely on them for security — and indeed to continue to refine their capacities and postulate plans for their use. --Mohamed ElBaradei https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mohamed_ElBaradei