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Everyone knows Tadeusz Kościuszko and Casimir Pulaski, but few have heard of Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski (1824-1887). This engineer, politician, and military leader was born in Rożnowo in Greater Poland. He attended St. Mary Magdalene High School in Poznań and took an active part in the anti-Prussian uprising of 1846. After its defeat, he emigrated to Hamburg, from where he sailed to New York. After completing his studies, he worked in Virginia as an engineer on railway construction, married, and moved to Washington. In 1860, Krzyżanowski supported Abraham Lincoln's candidacy for President of the United States. After the outbreak of war, he organized a detachment of immigrants in Washington, which defended the city against the first attacks by southerners. For this action, he was promoted to captain and then major. Immediately thereafter, he began a recruiting campaign in New York among European immigrants, who formed the 58th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, known as the "Polish Legion." He was promoted to colonel and appointed its commander. He fought in the Battles of Cross Keys in the Shenandoah Valley, the Second Battle of Bull Run, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Knoxville. In 1865, President Lincoln promoted him to brigadier general. (wikipedia.org)

INTERESTING STORIES

Kazimierz Gzowski (1813-1898) - polish engineer who built bridges, roads, railways, and ports in Canada. He was born in St. Petersburg to a family of Polish nobility from the borderlands. He attended the Krzemieniec High School and in 1830 joined the Russian Army's Corps of Engineers. After the outbreak of the November Uprising, he deserted and joined the Polish Army, serving as a second lieutenant as a sapper in Dwernicki's corps. He took part in the Battle of Stoczek, won by the Poles, and was wounded during the Battle of Grochów. After the uprising's collapse, he crossed the border into Austria, was interned, and deported to the United States. He arrived in Canada in 1841, where he initially served as a government construction supervisor. He later organized his own company, which built the Grand Trunk Railway from Toronto to Detroit between 1853 and 1857, and the International Bridge over the Niagara River at Fort Erie in 1873. Gzowski was one of the founders of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers and the creator of the national park on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. As a colonel in the Canadian militia, he was appointed honorary aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria in 1879 and knighted the following year. From 1896 to 1897, Sir Casimir Gzowski served as Governor of Ontario.