KOSCIUSKO, -TADEUSZ, a great Polish gen. and patriot, b. about the middle of century, in the province of Musk, western Russia, was descended from an ancient and noble but not wealthy Lithuanian family. He became a caps. in the Polish army, went to America, and served in the war of independence. He returned to Poland in 1786 with the rank of gen. of brigade.• In the campaign of 1702 he held a position at Dubjenka for fire days with 4.000 men against 16,000 Russians, although he had had only 24 hours to fortify it, and finally withdrew his troops without much loss. This brilliant feat of arms laid the foundation of his military reputation. When king Stanislaus submitted to the will of the empress Catharine, Kosciusko resigned his command, and retired to Leipsic, but returned in 1794, and put himself at the head of the national movement iu Cracow, and afterwards in 'Warsaw. With 20,000 regular troops and 40,000 ill-armed peasants he resisted for months the united Russian and Prussian army of 150,000 men. He was proof also against the most tempting proposals ou the part of the Prussian king. He was at last overpowered by superior numbers in the battle of Maciejowice, Oct. 10, 1794, and fell from his horse, covered with wounds, and uttering the words " Rids Polo/Ike." He was kept a prisoner till after the accession of the emperor Paul, who restored him to liberty, gave him an estate with 1500 peasants, and handed to him his sword, which Kosciusko declined to receive, saying: " I have no more need of a sword, as I have no longer a country " He afterwards resigned the estate, and sent back from London the money which he had received from the emperor. He spent the remainder
of his life chiefly in France, and his chief enjoyment was in agricultural pursuits. When Napoleon, in 1806, formed a plan for the restoration of Poland, Kosciusko felt himself restrained from taking an active.part in it by his promise to the emperor Paul. The address to the Poles, published in his name in the Moniteur, was a fabrication. In 1814 he wrote to the emperor Alexander entreating him to grant an amnesty to the Poles in foreign countries, and to make himself constitutional king of Poland. Ile released from servitude, in 1817, the peasants on his own estate in Poland. His death took place on Oct. 15, 1817, in consequence of his home falling over a precipice. His remains were removed to Cracow by the emperor Alexander, and were laid side by side with those of John Sobieski. See the biographies by Falkenstein (1834), Chodzko (1837), and Pasz kovski (Cracow, 1872).