Władysław Franciszek Jabłonowski
Władysław Franciszek Jabłonowski | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | Murzynek |
Born | Gdańsk, Poland | 25 October 1769
Died | 29 September 1802 Jérémie, Haiti | (aged 32)
Allegiance | |
Years of service | 1786–1802 |
Rank | Brigadier general |
Battles/wars | Szczekociny, Warsaw, Maciejowice and Praga, Kościuszko Uprising, Haitian Revolution |
Władysław Franciszek Jabłonowski (25 October 1769 – 29 September 1802) was a Polish general and military commander, who fought for France during the Napoleonic Wars. He is the first known Polish general of African descent.
After enlisting in the colonial service, he died of yellow fever in 1802 in Saint-Domingue,[1][2] where the Polish Legionnaires were initially fighting with the French against former enslaved African Haitians seeking freedom. Many other French and Poles also died of yellow fever and Napoleon withdrew his surviving forces.
Some of the Polish soldiers allied with the slaves in their quest for freedom, and about 400 settled on the island after the war. They were granted full citizenship by Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who led the country.[3]
Early life
Of mixed ancestry, Władysław was the illegitimate child of Maria Dealire, an English aristocrat, and an unidentified man of African descent. He acquired the nickname "Murzynek".[4] Maria Dealire's husband, the Polish nobleman Konstanty Jabłonowski, accepted the boy as his son and gave him his family name, so he was considered Polish.
In 25 February 1783, Jabłonowski as a youth was admitted to the French military academy at Paris
Military career
In 1794 Jabłonowski fought in Tadeusz Kościuszko's uprising against Tsarist Russia.[2] He participated in battles of Szczekociny, Warsaw, Maciejowice, and at Praga. A member of the Polish insurrectionist group Centralizacja Lwowska, he was sent to the Ottoman Empire to gain the support of the Ottoman and French governments for the creation a Polish army to antagonize Russia.[6] Another opportunity for this later appeared with the French fighting in Italy.[6]
He was appointed brigade chief in the French army on 4 January 4 1798. In 1799, he was under the command of General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski.[6] In 1799 he was made General of Brigade of the Polish legions[5] (the Dąbrowski Legion). He became provisional brigade general in the
On July 24, 1801, he was again nominated to the rank of brigade general in the Polish legions by General Joachim Murat, an appointment that was confirmed on 21 December 1801 by the First Consul. In 1801, he took strategic command of the 113th Infantry
The disease caused many deaths among both French and Polish forces, killing more than those who died because of warfare.[5] Eventually some 400 of the surviving Polish Legions (who started with 5200 soldiers) abandoned the French and joined the slaves in their fight for freedom.[8] They settled in what became Haiti, where their descendants are known as Polish Haitians.
In Polish culture
Jabłonowski is mentioned in Adam Mickiewicz's notable epic poem Pan Tadeusz, in the context of a veteran of the Polish legions recounting what he had seen:
- how Jabłonowski had reached the land where the pepper grows
- and where sugar is produced, and where in eternal spring'
- bloom fragrant woods: with the legion of the Danube there
- the Polish general smites the Negroes, but sighs for his native soil[9]
See also
References
- )
- ^ a b Boston, Nicholas (22 June 2021). "How the defacement of two statues could lead to Poland's reckoning with its Black history". The Calvert Journal. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
- ^ Kępa, Marek (16 February 2015). "Pirates, Freedom, & a Voodoo Goddess: The Story of Polish Haitians". Culture.pl. Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
- ^ PWN
- ^ a b c Pachonski Jan, Jan & Wilson, Reuel K. (1986), Poland's Caribbean Tragedy: A Study of Polish Legions in the Haitian War of Independence 1802-1803, New York: East European Monographs, pp. 60–61
- ^ a b c d e f g h Marcin Dzierżanowski (26 April 2018). "„Murzynek" - czarnoskóry polski generał". Kurier Historyczny. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-83-7545-085-9. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- ^ Rypson (2008), Being Poloné in Haiti
- ^ Mickiewicz, Adam (1917). Pan Tadeusz. London: J. M. Dent. pp. 31. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
Translated by George Rapall Noyes