Fraternity-Testvériség, 2000 (78. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
2000-04-01 / 2. szám
FRATERNITY Page 5 A Hungarian who became a National Hero of the American Revolution Colonel Michael Kováts (1724-1779) One-hundred-forty-one Hungarians fought in the American Revolution under the American flag. Since it was extremely difficult to obtain an officer’s commission in the new American army, many additional Hungarians fought under the French flag in the auxiliary forces sent by France to aid the Americans in their struggle for independence A Hungarian officer, Michael Kováts, played a very distinguished part in Washington’s army. He is recorded by American historians as one of their national heroes. Michael Kováts was born in Karczag-Ujszállás (now Karczag) of Calvinist stock in the year 1724. Military tradition was strong in the region, which was peopled largely by descendants of Cuman warriors who had terrorized Eastern Europe centuries before. After completing a Latin secondary education, young Kováts joined the famous Hungarian Hussars of Queen Maria Theresia’s Cavalry fighting against the Prussian emperor Frederick the Great in the War of the Austrian Succession. With the Peace of Dresden ending this war, Kováts’ unit was dispersed. Kováts, however, had decided to make the military a career, but since he could not do so in the Austrian cavalry, he simply switched sides to that of Frederick. This was common practice in the Age of the Enlightenment. (Fighting opposite one’s own country today would be high treason, but in those days the dividing lines were not so sharp, and Captain Kováts talked himself out of trouble.) Kováts fought in all the major battles of the Seven Years War, gaining intimate knowledge of both Prussian cavalry tactics and Prussian organizational procedures. He fought for Frederick for sixteen years, won his promotion as a captain, and had command of a body of men known as Kovats’sches Corps. (Aladár Póka-Pivny, “A Hungarian under Washington,” The Hungarian Quarterly, 1939.) He was wounded several times. One of Frederick’s enemies was Queen Maria Theresa of Hungary, Kováts’ own sovereign. During an engagement the Hungarian huszár was captured by the troops of the Queen. Again unemployed, and finding nothing better to do, he returned to his native Hungary. But word had reached him about the fight of the American colonists for independence and, though he was over fifty by that time, he wrote a letter to Benjamin Franklin, then ambassador of the U.S.A. to France, pledging his services to the U.S. Congress and ending with the words “fidelissime ad mortem” that is of being faithful onto death to the American cause. By early 1777 he was a recruiting officer with the Continental Army in Philadelphia. With the arrival of Casimir Pulaski1 in America, his name was included in the first memorandum forwarded by Pulaski to George Washington suggesting the formation of the U.S. Cavalry as a separate branch of arms within the Army. Washington personally named Kováts to be the Colonel Commadant of this unit, responsible for both its specialized training and recruiting, based on Hungarian and Prussian cavalry methods. The unit was attached to the so-called Pulaski Legion, which included infantry units, and was under the command of Casimir Pulaski, who must have found Kováts to his liking. The Count wrote to Washington on behalf of Kováts on January 9, 1778, that the new cavalry formations which it was contemplated to set up “must be exercised and taught the service from Colonel to private. Colonel Kováts is a man of great merit and deserves the charge of Master of Exercises; he is an officer worthy of research and exclusive of a thorough knowledge of his abilities. I request his being employed by your excellency. I can recommend him and assure your Excellency will never have reason to repent your confidence in him, if this proposal should be agreeable to your Excellency. The sooner I am informed the better, as he will be of infinite service to the Cavalry this winter in Quarters.” A few days later the authorization did come for the formation of the Pulaski Legion, with sixty-eight horses and two hundred soldiers. In mid-April Colonel Kováts was appointed Colonel Commandant of the Pulaski Legion. By that time word had got around about the Hungarian ex-huszár and we hear him described as “the famous Colonel Kováts” and “the well-known Kováts, Prussian officer in the last war.” Pulaski’s Legion was ordered to Sussex Court House, then to Cale’s Fort, where it wintered, defending New Jersey against the Indians. In February 1778, it received orders to join General Benjamin Lincoln in South Carolina, and reached Charlestown (now Charleston) in May. The town was defended by General William Moultrie. His plight was so hopeless that civilian authorities urged him to surrender. At that strategic moment the Pulaski Legion arrived. While not a large force, the commander knew how to make it appear impressive. The British forces were commanded by General Augustine Prevost. On May 11, Pulaski and Kováts attacked General Prevost with 120 men, and met an overwhelming force. In the very first onslaught, Kováts was mortally wounded. “The British buried him where he fell,” Dr. Joseph Johnson, Charleston physician, recorded in his Traditions and Reminiscences (see Aladár Póka-Pivny above) “on the west side of the road, in the land now owned and enclosed by John Margart, at the comer of Huger Street.
