From the Field, Continental Army Engineer and Polish Patriot Thaddeus Kosciuszko Writes His Commander, Nathanael Greene

Polish patriot Thaddeus Kosciuszko reached Philadelphia in August of 1776, intent on aiding the American struggle for liberty. He was a military engineer, and was immediately put to work fortifying the city against an expected attack by the British fleet. This assignment, for which he won the approval of the Pennsylvania Committee of Defense, gained him a commission from Congress as Colonel of Engineers. There were four engineers in the entire Continental Army at that time. After the momentous victory at Saratoga, the victor, General Gates, gave Kosciuszko credit for the victory. "The hills and the woods," said Gates, "were the great strategists which a young Polish engineer knew how to select with skill for my camp." Washington then appointed Kosciuszko to take charge of the fortifications of West Point, where he remained until 1780. Kosciuszko was then sent to the Southern theater of operations, just on time to serve with the newly-appointed commander there, Gen. Nathanael Greene. As Greene assumed command on December 4, 1780, Kosciuszko was his sole engineer. On December 8, in his first tactical order as commander, Greene ordered Kosciuszko to map and select the campsite for the American army. Greene’s instructions showed that he had great confidence in his newly-acquired engineer. This was the beginning of Greene's successful Southern campaign, in which the British were deprived of the fruits of their previous victories and were driven into Virginia.

With the foe in Virginia, Greene saw an opportunity to reoccupy the Carolinas, and this consumed his army's energies. After Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, it was obvious that the surrender had dealt the British a staggering blow, but it was by no means clear at that time that this would cause them to accept American independence and negotiate a peace. Greene distrusted British promises and motives, and reasoning that only a militarily strong and politically unified America could convince Britain to abandon entirely its campaign to subdue the new nation, he twice turned down British proposals for an end to hostilities in the region. Thus the conflict continued, if at a lesser pace. Greene and his army enjoyed success with a decrease in the threat posed by Indians on the southern frontier, and with the British withdrawals from North Carolina in January 1782, from Savannah in June 1782, and from Charleston in December 1782. When Greene entered Charleston in triumph, Kosciuszko was by his side.

In September of 1782, Kosciuszko was in an advanced position near Greene's main camp on the Ashley River.  In this capacity, he gathered intelligence and supplies, often using African Americans to help him in his spying. 

Autograph letter signed, by Ashley River (near Charleston), S.C., September 11, 1782, to Greene, concerning the inability of his troops to cross a stream because the bridge had been washed away. The spelling is Kosciuszko's. "I was disappointed last night, as I am not sailor, have not knowledge of the spring tide, which prevented me to cross the creek where only five sticks was lay down and sweep away by the tide, and the creek been very deep that the men could not cross through. I was obliged to come back. The bearer will deliver few sweet oranges and figs for Mrs. Greene. P.S. I have send one British deserter."