Hungarian Heritage Review, 1987 (16. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1987-08-01 / 8. szám
quarters, a large British army has already entered the peninsula leading up to the City of Charleston. In fact, negotiations between the city and the governor of the state on one side, and the British commander on the other, for the surrender and the neutralization of the important port city have progressed so rapidly that, by May 10, when units of the Pulaski Legion entered the city, the British army, standing not far from Charleston, was halted on the assumption that they have to wait only for the final negotiations over the conditions of the surrender and the signing of the relative document. The appearance of the Pulaski Legion, however, (made even more impressive for both the local militia and the British commander by some rumors that General Lincoln, with more than 5,000 troops under his command, is approaching the neck of the peninsula to cut off the retreat of the British forces), worked real wonders. It recharged the will and courage of the city population, changed the opinion of the city fathers, and, an audacious attack led by Pulaski and Kovats against the approaching British outside the city limits convinced the British commander of the eventually very dangerous outcome of any further aggression against Charleston: he turned around his troops of more than two thousand men, and, pursued by Pulaski’s decimated Legion and some local units, led them back to the fortified city of Savannah, Georgia. Unfortunately, however, Colonel Commandant Kovats, with a number of the Legion's cavalry, found his death in the clash with the British on May 11, 1779, right there, in the defense of Charleston. Mortally wounded by a rifle shot, he fell from his horse, and was buried in the battlefield, never to be found any more. His good friend and superior officer, Brigadier General Casimir Pulaski, was fatally wounded later, during the ill-advised attack on Savannah, and died of his wounds on October 9, of the same year. At the same time, the famous Legion was reduced to a meaningless, small group of veterans, and never revived as a unit of the American army. The great success of the Pulaski Legion by saving Charleston and the American South for Washington and the Congress was, initially, hailed by the American Commander-in-Chief as the greatest glory which ever befell American arms. But the formal, official recognition of the immortal heroes, Pulaski and Kovats, and their comrades-in-arms could never be issued by the highest authorities: as it turned out, their reward would have involved the initiation of a formal investigation into the circumstances of the surrender negotiations which could have amounted to treason and secession on the part of those responsible for them in the city of Charleston. Also, because of the death of the two commanding officers, and the reduced status of the Legion, any such move on the part of those responsible for the future of American democracy, appeared to be futile and possibly dangerous. More than a century after the glorious performance of the Pulaski Legion, representatives of the American Polish community launched increasingly intensive campaigns for the recognition of “their” hero, Casimir Pulaski. The most successful were those publicity campaigns which succeeded the tragic turns in Poland’s most recent history during and after the Second World War. The public and official recognition of the merits of the Hungarian-born officer came considerably later and in different forms. The Cult of Colonel Kovats in the United States and Hungary The discovery that a Hungarianborn Hussar colonel had an important role in the American War of Independence electrified American Hungarians about half a century ago. Not bothered about the lack of authentical likenesses, several American- IMungarian-^Amertcana . Hungarian artists have painted imaginary “portraits” and created statues of the Hungarian hero on horseback. Also, a “Colonel Michael Kovats de Fabricy Historical Society” was founded in New York City, with branches organized in a number of other cities and states. The resulting research activities led to several substantial publications, mostly essays or well documented articles which grew out of the intensive correspondence between researchers in America and Europe. Some commemorative celebrations on both sides of ihe ocean encouraged historical and cultural societies to hold “Kovats sessions” and other programs, many of them in cooperation with the above mentioned “Kovats Society”. All these activities have greatly contributed to the rekindling of pro-American sentiments in Hungary, — which was not a sn^ll success in those years when Hitler’s star rose to the Firmament of European politics. Regardless of the lamentable fact that this organization was swept away by the Second World War, the, by then, established cult of Colonel Kovats has not lost its fire. The American Hungarian Federation, an umbrella organization of most of the Hungarianfounded church, civic and cultural organizations in the United States, with its center in Washington, D.C., developed a cooperation with the Citadel, the Military Academy of the South, at Charleston, South Carolina, and revived the cult of the Hungarian hero. A training field of the Citadel was named after Colonel Kovats, and a marker with a bronze plaque placed at its corner informs posterity of his immortal merits in the service of the United States. In the course of the American Bicentennial celebrations, his memory was recalled by the Citadel, the United States Congress, the President of the United States of America, the City of Charleston, the State of South Carolina, as well as by —continued next page AUGUST 1987 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW 15
