Source: cleveland.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. — “The cause of America, in great measure, is the cause of all mankind,” remarked Thomas Paine in his pamphlet “Common Sense,” published in the consequential year of 1776. Paine addressed the common man in America, but the heroic struggle of the colonists for their traditional rights against despotic imperial overreach inspired millions worldwide, including those living under Habsburg rule in central Europe.
A painting by artist Sándor Bodó of Michael Kováts de Fabriczy, a Hungarian nobleman who fought with the American side in the American Revolution and was killed in battle. The painting was photographed by Zoltán Pintér. Used with permission.Zoltán Pintér
“Golden liberty cannot be purchased with yellow gold,” wrote Michael Kováts de Fabriczy, a Hungarian nobleman, as translated from the Latin, in his letter to Benjamin Franklin, who was then serving as the American commissioner to Paris.
Kováts wished to set off “as soon as possible to live or die in uninterrupted military service” for the American cause, wherever it was most needed. French ships carried him and hundreds of other distinguished noblemen and experienced European soldiers to join the American Revolution as newspapers from Pressburg (today’s Bratislava in Slovakia) to Paris published weekly reports about Gen. George Washington’s battles.
The American War of Independence was unique in its revolutionary yet conservative philosophical underpinnings, and it badly needed the help of well-trained, reliable military officers from abroad. Almost every European nation, one way or another, participated in the American Revolution.
Commissioned as a colonel under Washington, Kováts along with Polish Count Kazimierz Pułaski came to be credited as the founders of the American cavalry. Together, they turned the inexperienced and poorly equipped local militias into a disciplined force capable of winning decisive battles against the most formidable British forces. Kováts’ brought to bear decades of expertise fighting under the Habsburg ruler Maria Theresa, the Prussian monarch Frederick the Great, and alongside freedom fighters in Poland. From drafting guidelines on uniform designs to instructions on saddle maintenance and providing the organizational structure of the light cavalry, he helped hone militiamen into the American Continental Army.
When Charleston, the South’s most crucial port, became the primary British target, Pułaski and Kováts were sent south to stop the redcoats.
Bravely engaging the enemy, the Pulaski Legion was soon overpowered. Pułaski survived, but Kováts fell.
In an unmarked grave lies the American Revolution’s unsung hero, the Hussar colonel from the small Hungarian town of Karcag who did more to train, organize, and launch the first American cavalry units than anyone else. He was revered by his troops and respected by his enemies. According to his opponent, British Major F. Skelly, he trained the “best cavalry the rebels ever had.”
Kováts’ life was, in a sense, the true American dream. It was the life of someone who, through hard work and diligence rose upwards through the ranks. A life lived with grit and courage, a life that was ultimately sacrificed far from his homeland in dedication to the cause of American independence.
Hungarians celebrated his heroism this year, the 300th anniversary of Kováts’ birth year, by issuing a commemorative stamp which features the brave Hussar with crossed American and Hungarian flags.
Americans have worked to preserve his memory, as well. Part of the Cleveland Hungarian Museum’s permanent exhibit is dedicated to Kováts. And across the county, a playground and square in New York City; frescoes in a church in Pennsylvania; a statue in Washington, D.C.; a commemorative relief on the grounds of the Citadel; and even a U.S. military aircraft carrier were named after him. The nation’s oldest patriotic organization, the Society of the Cincinnati, founded by George Washington’s officer corps in 1783, proudly possesses an equestrian statuette of the Colonel Commandant.
A national hero for Hungarians and Americans alike, Michael Kováts de Fabriczy embodies moral clarity at a time when much was at stake for Western civilization.
Whether or not the cause of America’s liberty, which inspired millions at home and abroad, succeeds or not is of utmost significance for the entire West. And it will take courage and a return to common sense to preserve it.
Marc Wheat is chairman of the History Committee of the American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati. Anna Smith Lacey is executive director of the Hungary Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Source: cleveland.com
