Portrait of Kosciuszko by Benjamin West, 1797
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QUICK FACTS
BORN:
February 1746 in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
DIED:
15 October 1817 in Solothurn, Switzerland
- In 1798 Congress grants $18,912 in back-pay to Kosciuszko for his role in the Revolutionary War. In his will, he authorizes his friend Thomas Jefferson
to employ the whole thereof in purchasing Negroes from among his own or any others
— in order to free them. - Jefferson neglects to do so. In 1826 when he dies, the money is still in trust, and his slaves are sold at auction.
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