General Casimir Pulaski, Bronze equestrian statue in Freedom Plaza, Washington DC, United States.
General Casimir Pulaski is a bronze equestrian statue on Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., depicting the Polish officer in a marshal's uniform while mounted on horseback. The statue stands on a granite pedestal at the corner of 13th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, one of the city's main ceremonial roads.
Congress authorized the monument in 1903, and Polish sculptor Kazimierz Chodziński completed it in time for its dedication in 1910. It honors an officer who crossed the Atlantic to fight alongside American colonists during the Revolutionary War and helped organize and train the cavalry.
The statue shows Pulaski wearing a traditional Polish officer's coat, a detail that reflects the close ties between Poland and the early United States. Visitors from Poland often stop here as a point of national pride, and the site regularly draws small groups during Polish national holidays.
The statue sits at the edge of Freedom Plaza, an open paved square that is easy to reach on foot from many points in central Washington. Approaching from Pennsylvania Avenue gives the best view of the front of the figure and allows you to read the text on the pedestal without obstruction.
The pedestal panels carry the names of specific battles where Pulaski fought, including Savannah, where he was fatally wounded in 1779. Savannah is the only place on that list where the officer fell, which turns the base of the statue into a quiet record of his final campaign.
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