Református ujság - Fraternity-Testvériség, 1940 (18. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1940-04-01 / 4. szám
8 TESTVÉRISÉG ton and through this letter Kováts offered his services for the training of the American cavalry. I published this leter he first time in the above mentioned “Fidelissimus” article. The original is in the Library of Congress, Washington, D, C., Papers of the Continental Congress, Vol. 78 XIII, Folio 487. This statement contains two serious mistakes. The letter was written at Germantown, Pa., Sep. 19, 1778, not to Washington, but to Henry Laurens, President of the Continental Congress. Kováts, who returned a short time ago with his troops from the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, where they were stationed to prevent the Indian attacks, did not offer his services to train the American cavalry, as Prof. Willigan states, but to quote the letter itself, he made “a certain proposition to the Honorable Congress concerning a durable future, Security against the Indians and other bad fellows; my long service abroad in the Hungarian and Prussian Service as a Huzzar of- ficier, has given me a Sufficient knowledge to be a proper judge of such regulation as I intend to propose.” There is not a word in this letter (another part of which is quoted by Prof. Willigan) about any plan of training the American cavalry. Ko- váts’s letter was read to the Congress Sep. 21, 1778 and it was referred to the Board of War. SIXTH. “His commission was ratified in April, 1778 and Kováts immediately appealed in the Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser for recruits” — writes Prof. Willigan. When Kováts’s commission was ratified (Apr. 18, 1778) he was not at Baltimore, but he lived for months in Easton and Bethlehem, Pa. The first recruiting article in the “Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser” appeared April 14, 1778 (before the ratification of the commissions for the officers). The rectuiting officer who published it was not Col. Kováts, but a French officer, Captain De Second or Sequid. (Spencer, Henry Richard: The Pulaski Legion. Maryland Historical Magazine, Sep., 1918, 214 sq. — Letters and Papers of Maj. Gen. John Sullivan, Concord, N. H., 1931, New Hampshire Historical Society, Vol. II., p. 396.) Kováts’s absence from Baltimore at that time is proven by the fact that Count Pulaski, accom- pained by Col. Kováts, on the 16th of April appeared in the Moravian Church of Bethlehem, Pa. The Moravian General Diary (written in German), mentions Kováts in January and February, 1778, when he tried to buy supplies for the troops in Easton, and Bethlehem, Pa. SEVENTH. “In July, 1778 the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania sent Col. Kováts and Col. Hartley against the Indians” says Prof. Willigan. Col. Kováts was at Easton at that time, and only a detachment of Col. Hartley’s regiment was sent to join his troops. (Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, Vol. XI., p. 531, Minutes of the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania). Col. Hartley himself did not go and his deachment under Captain Kearney reached Easton only during the second half of August. Their arrival did not mean the strengh- tening of Kováts’s forces because at that time Kováts and his horsemen left Easton. The Moravian General Diary mentions that they passed through Bethlehem on the 31st of July, 1778, going to Baltimore. EIGHTH. According to Prof. Willigan, Ko- váts's cavalry amid the cheers of his men repelled the British at the unfortunate affair of Little Egg Harbor, N. J., Oct. 15, 1778 and extracted the infantry from its untenable position. The facts are these: Pulaski’s infantry was attacked by the British between 3 and four in the morning, who succeeded in butchering about 25-30 sleeping men. The shots were heard by the cavalry which was stationed about half a mile distant. Pulaski and his horde- men were in the saddle in an instant and dashed down, but they were too late. The enemy had withdrawn already and the pursuing cavalry had to stop at the creek, where the planks of the bridge were removed. The stream was not fordable but a few riflemen crossed it, firing after the enemy. It was advisable to call them back, because no aid could be given to them. (Wm. Scudder Stryker: The affair at Egg Harbor, Trenton, N. J., 1894.) NINTH. “Early in 1778 a Minister of the Protestant Church in Bethlehem, Penna, noted that the well-known commander of the Hussars attended services. Again it was noted that on April 16, 1778 Count Pulaski and Colonel Ko- vats attended Easter services.” The Moravian General Diary mentions Kováts on Jan. 24, 1778 but not in connection with his churchgoing. He is described as a “Prussian officer who had long been living in retirement” and who at that time was endeavoring to raise and equip a troop for the Continental service. (J. M. Levering: History of Bethlehem, 1903, pp. 485-8.) And Pulaski with Kováts did not attend the Easter services since the 16th of April was Maundy Thursday. TENTH. When ordered to South Carolina, the cavalry of the Legion arrived at Charleston on the 9th of May, 1779, and not on the 17th, as Prof. Willigan states. The infantry arrived on the nth of May and the same day Colonel Kováts was killed by a bullet of the British. * * * To give a nationwide circulation to so many mistakes and errors through the Congressional Record about the short, but glorious American career of Col. Michael Kováts was a harmful and lamentable disservice to the memory of the hero and to truthful and reliable recording of history.
