Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kościuszko was a Polish military engineer, statesman, and military leader, born in Mereczowszczyzna, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, now known as the Ivatsevichy district, Belarus, on February 12, 1746.
A man of revolutionary aspirations, sympathetic to the American cause and an advocate of human rights, Kościuszko sailed for the Americas in June 1776, along with other foreign officers, and likely with the help of French supporter of the American revolutionary, Pierre Beaumarchais.
During the Battle of Saratoga, Kościuszko utilized his engineering skills to lay out a robust array of defenses that were nearly impregnable. His judgment and meticulous attention to detail frustrated the British, and Major General Horatio Gates accepted the surrender of Burgoyne's force on October 16, 1777.
In March 1778, Kościuszko arrived at West Point, New York, and spent more than two years strengthening the fortifications and improving the stronghold's defenses. His West Point fortifications were widely praised as innovative for the time. It was these defenses that the American General Benedict Arnold subsequently attempted to surrender to the British when he defected. Soon after Kościuszko finished fortifying West Point, in August 1780, General George Washington granted Kościuszko's request to transfer to combat duty with the Southern Army.
During the America Revolution, Kościuszko carried an old Spanish sword at his side, which was inscribed with the words “Do not draw me without reason; do not sheathe me without honor.”
Kościuszko died October 15, 1817, in his home country of Poland. Thomas Jefferson wrote that "He is as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known."
In July of 2022, U.S. Army Forward Operating Site Poznan, Poland, renamed the Army base "Camp Kościuszko.”