Anniversary of the defeat of Polish troops in the conflict of Maciejowice.
Today in our calendar we will look at the final phase of the alleged Kościuszkowski Insurrection from 1794.
On 15 June Prusacy, thanks to the betrayal of Ignacy Wieniawski, took Kraków without a fight. They then robbed the city and transported Polish coronation insignia to Germany. On 27 June, the decision to enter Poland was made, which was besides 2 days later. The Austrians planted Kraków and Lublin land, limiting the scope of the uprising with an armed cordon. In July, the combined Russian-Prussian forces besieged Warsaw, and Lithuanian and Kurland insurgents were forced to retreat south-western.
On 6 September, the coalitions withdrew from the siege of the capital and the Prussians went to Wielkopolska, where Poles started the uprising, supported by the corps of Jan Henryk Dąbrowski. On 1 August, Karol Sierakowski defeated the Russians in the conflict of Słonim, but this did not save Vilnius, which fell on 12 August. In September there were defeats of insurgents at Krupczyce and Terespol; the second was caused by the indication of the Moscow beards on Bug by a hebrew from a local cahale.
On October 2, Jan Henryk Dąbrowski won Bydgoszcz, which was the last large insurgent success.
On October 10, as part of an effort to block the merger of the Czarski forces, the chief of the uprising, Tadeusz Kościuszko, decided to fight at Maciejowice. There were about 6,300 soldiers under his command. Based on the hill and castle, the Polish position was very convenient to defend. The Russian army commanders Ivan Fersen and Fyodor Denisov, who had 12,000 soldiers at their disposal, actually entered the attack on twice the weaker Poles, hoping for their numerical advantage.
The conflict plan of the Polish side was to accept the enemy's impact and defend until the arrival of the General's auxiliary corps Adam Poniński (about 4000 soldiers) who would hit the Russian wing. Interestingly, General Poniński was the boy of a traitorous 1773 marshal of the partition parliament with the same name and surname, who for many years downloaded a Russian jurgielt.
Sent by Kościuszko to the Poniński bishop, he got into Russian captivity, and the re-signed order of concentration of forces caused the Poniński troops to arrive on the battlefield by a fewer hours besides late. The tough Polish defence broke down against the numerical advantage of the opponent, attacking from all sides. The flank defender ran away, leaving a lone infantry. The bone has been taken prisoner. Poles fought in castle buildings and later in cellars for many hours, but it could not change anything. The defeat was complete.
After the failure of Kościuszko, the insurgent authorities suffered shock. The dictator's position was taken over by Tomasz Wawręcki, who, however, did not gain specified support and respect as the predecessor. The Russian assault on Warsaw ended with the terrible slaughter of Prague on 4 November, during which about 20,000 inhabitants were murdered. The following day, the capital capitulated, while on 16 November, the politician of Wawrzedka and the remnants of insurgent troops surrendered to Radoszych.
After the conflict of Maciejowice, Poniński was accused of treason, though later the opinions of historians rehabilitated him. It was claimed he had no chance of coming to the battlefield. An interesting argument in the discussion on this subject is that just after the fall of the uprising, Poniński went to Tulczyn, where he was received with open hands by the celebrated leader Targowice, Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki. It is besides worth noting that after the Uprising he was not repressed by the Russians. Was there a Russian conspiracy involved? I guess it's always in the realm of conjecture.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.
