12 Immigrants Who Made the American Military Great
1 Casimir Pulaski Is the Father of the American Cavalry Casimir Pulaski was a heroic freedom fighter for two countries First he fought in his own country Poland Then he fought in the American Revolution Pulaski was born on March 6 1745 in Warsaw Poland As a young man he joined his father to defend their 4 country against Russia By age 21 he was a commander in the military In 1776 Pulaski met American statesman Benjamin Franklin in Paris He was inspired by America’s struggle for independence from England Pulaski arrived in America in June 1777 He fought next to General George Washington At the Battle of Brandywine on September 11 he led a successful charge against the British He is credited with saving Washington’s life Four days later Washington made Pulaski brigadier general of the American cavalry In 1778 Pulaski formed the Pulaski Cavalry Legion Many of his men were immigrants from Germany France Ireland and Poland This was the first true cavalry legion in the Continental Army Pulaski
Statue of Casimir Pulaski at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC became known as the Father of the American Cavalry In October 1779 at the Battle of Savannah Pulaski was badly wounded He died two days later Pulaski was 34 years old In 1929 the US Congress proclaimed October 11 of each year Pulaski Day In 2009 they 7 Number of US counties named after Casimir Pulaski Casimir Pulaski came to America in 1777 to fight in the Revolutionary War He is credited with saving George Washington’s life Pulaski died in 1779 fighting as an immigrant for America Congress made him an honorary US citizen in 2009 made Pulaski an honorary citizen of the United States Hundreds of towns counties monuments streets parks and bridges have been named after him A Pulaski Day Parade is held each year in New York City 5
2 John Ericsson’s Inventions Help the North Win the Civil War under the waterline they would be safer from enemy fire But most ships had paddlewheels This idea wouldn’t work with paddlewheels So Ericsson came up with a new design for a screw propeller In 1839 Ericsson immigrated to the United States He thought the fast growing country would be interested in his propeller By 1844 Ericsson’s propeller was in use by 25 ships on the Great Lakes In 1848 Ericsson became a US citizen When the Civil War began in 1861 every ship in the Union navy was made of wood Confederate ships could fire exploding shells The North looked to Ericsson for help He designed an ironclad ship It was built very quickly The USS Monitor had armored plates on the hull It had no masts or sails Everything was below the waterline except one John Ericsson was a Swedish American inventor and engineer His ideas helped the Union Navy during the US Civil War Ericsson was born on July 31 1803 in Värmland Sweden He was good at drawing and solving problems During his twenties Ericsson had ideas for improving warships For example if the engines could be moved below decks 6
100 Number of working days it took to build the USS Monitor John Ericsson had ideas for improving warships at a young age He immigrated to the United States in 1839 He is best known as the designer of the USS Monitor Officers on the deck of the USS Monitor special feature The world’s first rotating gun turret was up top The Confederacy built its own ironclad the CSS Virginia On March 9 1862 the Monitor and the Virginia met in battle There was no clear winner but the battle changed how wars would be fought on water The time of wooden warships was over Ericsson kept inventing until his death in March 1889 Today he is remembered as one of the top inventors of the nineteenth century 7
