In 2019, DNA from bones beneath a monument in Savannah, Georgia, matched the family of Casimir Pulaski, yet the skeleton appeared female. This episode follows Pulaski’s journey from Polish rebel to American hero and unpacks the modern debate over his remains.

We cover Pulaski’s noble birth, his role in the Bar Confederation against Russian domination, the failed plot to kidnap the Polish king, and his exile. Then we follow him to America through Benjamin Franklin’s recommendation, his charge at Brandywine, the founding of Pulaski’s Legion, his mortal wound at the Siege of Savannah, and the competing interpretations of the forensic evidence.

• How Franklin promoted him as Count Pulaski, a title he never actually held
• Why Washington trusted a newcomer with his bodyguard at Brandywine
• His clashes with American officers and his personal spending to equip his legion
• The Smithsonian-backed hypothesis that Pulaski may have been intersex
• A 2022 study arguing mitochondrial DNA cannot prove the remains are his