The U.S. Military Academy hosted the annual National Gen. Tadeusz Kościuszko Observance at the Kościusko Memorial, commemorating the 277th Anniversary year of the birth of Tadeusz Kościuszko (1746-1817).Polish born Brigadier General Thaddeus Kościuszko was a Patriot of the American Revolution.
General Horatio Gates put Kosciuszko in charge of planning the defensive strategy for his army at Saratoga, whose defeat of the British forces under General John Burgoyne in October 1777 would prove to be a turning point in the Revolutionary War.
Kościuszko was then appointed by the Continental Congress to oversee the fortifications of West Point from 1777-1780 during the height of the Revolutionary War, when George Washington considered West Point to be the most important military post in America. By war’s end, Kosciuszko was made a brigadier general and received U.S. citizenship, along with a medal for his service to the Continental Army.