Kosciuszko's Monument (West Point)
Kosciuszko, having attended the Royal Knights School in Warsaw and audited classes at the Ecole Militaire, advocated the establishment of an American military school for officers, a subject on which he wrote Jefferson many times. After Jefferson established the academy, General William Davie requested Kosciuszko write the manual, Manoeuvres of Horse Artillery, which became a textbook at the academy.
In May 2023, during a restoration of the monument's base, West Point Association of Graduates' Construction Manager Chris Branson found an unexpected time capsule placed there in 1828. The capsule was opened in August 2023 and West Point announced its archaeologist team had found six coins and a commemorative medal dating from 1795 to 1828 inside the time capsule. The items include:
- a Liberty dollar coin from 1800, measuring 1.564 inches in diameter
- a 50-cent coin from 1828, measuring 1.276 inches in diameter
- a 25-cent coin from 1818, measuring 1.066 inches in diameter
- a 10-cent coin from 1827, measuring .745 inches in diameter
- a 5-cent coin from 1795, measuring .643 inches in diameter
- a 1-cent coin from 1827, measuring 1.114 inches in diameter
- an Erie Canal commemorative medal from 1826, measuring 1.763 inches in diameter
Gallery
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Closeup of engraving
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Front of monument
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Back of monument
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The pedestal c. 1900, before the statue was emplaced
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Monument seen from Hudson River
References
- ^ Ambrose, Stephen (1966). Duty, Honor, Country. A History of West Point. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 10. ISBN 0-8018-6293-0.
- ^ "Annual National Tadeusz Kosciuszko Observance". American Association of the Friends of Kosciuszko at West Point, Inc. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
- ^ Storozynski, A., 2009, The Peasant Prince, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 9780312388027
- ^ Witsil, Frank (August 28, 2023). "Opening of West Point time capsule reveals what cynics said it would: Nothing". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
- ^ Witsil, Frank (August 28, 2023). "After further study, West Point archeologists find items in time capsule". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved August 28, 2023.