[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S.J. Res. 12 Referred in House (RFH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. J. RES. 12


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 3, 2009

               Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

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                            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.

            Passed the Senate March 2, 2009.

            Attest:

                                                NANCY ERICKSON,

                                                             Secretary.