Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko (; 1746 – 1817) was a Polish national hero, general and a leader of the Kościuszko Uprising (which bears his name) against the Russian Empire. Tadeusz was born in February 1746 in Mereczowszczyzna, Polesie. (courrently located in Belarus) He fought in the American Revolutionary War as a colonel in the Continental Army on the side of Washington. Because of his service he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in 1783, and became a legitimate citizen of the United States that same year. He died in Solothurn, Switzerland on October 15, 1817 due to a stroke.