[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 26 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.J.Res.26

                      One Hundred Eleventh Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
             the sixth day of January, two thousand and nine


                            Joint Resolution


 
  Proclaiming Casimir Pulaski to be an honorary citizen of the United 
                          States posthumously.

Whereas Casimir Pulaski was a Polish military officer who fought on the 
  side of the American colonists against the British in the American 
  Revolutionary War;

Whereas Benjamin Franklin recommended that General George Washington 
  accept Casimir Pulaski as a volunteer in the American Cavalry and 
  said that Pulaski was ``renowned throughout Europe for the courage 
  and bravery he displayed in defense of his country's freedom'';

Whereas, after arriving in America, Casimir Pulaski wrote to General 
  Washington, ``I came here, where freedom is being defended, to serve 
  it, and to live or die for it.'';

Whereas the first military engagement of Casimir Pulaski with the 
  British was on September 11, 1777, at the Battle of Brandywine, and 
  his courageous charge in this engagement averted a disastrous defeat 
  of the American Cavalry and saved the life of George Washington;

Whereas, on September 15, 1777, George Washington elevated Casimir 
  Pulaski to the rank of Brigadier General of the American Cavalry;

Whereas Casimir Pulaski formed the Pulaski Cavalry Legion, and in 
  February 1779, this legion ejected the British occupiers from 
  Charleston, South Carolina;

Whereas, in October 1779, Casimir Pulaski mounted an assault against 
  British forces in Savannah, Georgia;

Whereas, on the morning of October 9, 1779, Casimir Pulaski was 
  mortally wounded and was taken aboard the American ship USS Wasp, 
  where he died at sea on October 11, 1779;

Whereas, before the end of 1779, the Continental Congress resolved that 
  a monument should be erected in honor of Casimir Pulaski;

Whereas, in 1825, General Lafayette laid the cornerstone for the 
  Casimir Pulaski monument in Savannah, Georgia; and

Whereas, in 1929, Congress passed a resolution recognizing October 11 
  of each year as Pulaski Day in the United States: Now, therefore, be 
  it

    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That Casimir Pulaski is 
proclaimed to be an honorary citizen of the United States posthumously.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.