native of Poland, whose education began at Warsaw and was completed at Paris. Having determined to cast his lot with the Americans, then struggling for liberty, he was furnished by Franklin with letters to Washington, and came to America. He was appointed Aide-de-Camp to Washington, and subsequently commissioned as Colonel of Engineers. Highly distinguished for his courage and skill in the campaign against Burgoyne, and as the directing Engineer at West Point, he returned to Poland at the close of the Revolution, rewarded by the thanks of Congress and the commission of Brevet Brigadier-General, to serve as a General of Division under Poniatowski. In the Polish Insurrection of 1793 he was chosen Generalissimo, with the powers of a Roman Dictator. He immediately issued a decree, authorizing the insurrection, and at once proceeded to unite the Polish divisions, and in a few days the Russians were driven from the Palatinate. Meantime, the Prussians having joined Russia, the rest of the struggle was a continuous resistance against superior forces, until at last, at Maciejowice, on the 10th of October, 1794, he was completely defeated and overwhelmed by the Russians. He fell wounded from his horse, with the bitter wail on his lips, "Finis Polonie." Taken prisoner, and conveyed to a fortress near St. Petersburg, he underwent a long confinement until the accession of Paul I., who, feeling an admiration for his character, restored him to freedom, and presented him with his sword.

"I have no longer occasion for a sword," sadly replied Kosciuszko, "since I have no longer a country." He visited America in 1797, and was triumphantly and warmly welcomed by the grateful people. He returned to Switzerland and resided at Solothurn, where he died on October 15, 1817. His body was interred at Cracow with great pomp in the funeral vaults of the Kings of Poland, between the coffins of Poniatowski and Sobieski. The Senate decreed in his honor the erection of an enormous mound on the Heights of Bronislawad. The gratuitous labor of all classes succeeded in raising this "Mound of Kosciuszko" to the height of 300 feet in three years, and it will remain for ages a noble monument of his country's gratitude. Kosciuszko was never married, and the simple column at West Point, in full view of thousands of travelers, will long serve as a memorial of gratitude from the American nation, and an enduring protest against the destruction of Poland, and the ruin and death of many freedom lovers as noble and virtuous as Kosciuszko himself.

The "Drives" at West Point and its vicinity, although limited in extent by the rugged character of the region, are possessed of infinite variety and beauty, from the constantly changing aspect of river, mountain, and valley. Besides the routes on the Post itself, the road South, along the riverbank to Fort Montgomery, about four miles distant, from its smoothness, easy grades, and the numerous attractive residences by the wayside, affords many present and pleasing after reminiscences of a sojourn at this delightful retreat.

Prominent among these attractions, and scarcely a mile distant from West Point, on the very brink of a precipice towering over the Hudson, stands Cozzens' Hotel, the name of which is inseparably associated with the name of its founder, whose benevolence, geniality, and hospitality is so intimately connected with West Point and the traveling public.