A native of Poland, Kazimir Pulawski (1745-1779), for a relatively short life, managed to fight to his heart's content both at home and overseas, and in the latter case, he became a general at all and was called the "father of the American cavalry".
In Europe, Pulawski miraculously survived in a clash with Suvorov's detachment, acting on the side of the Bar Confederation, showed himself as a talented commander during the defense of Czestochowa in 1770-1771, and after the defeat of the Confederates, he was forced to flee first to Turkey and then to France.
In France, Pulawski received an invitation from Benjamin Franklin himself to side with the Americans in the war of independence and accepted it. In September 1777, he joined George Washington's forces shortly before the Battle of Brandywine.
Over the next two years of battles, he gained fame as a brave and fearless warrior, but in October 1779 he was mortally wounded, opposing the French at Savannah in Georgia, and died two days later.
In the centuries that followed, there was controversy over whether the remains of Casimir Pulawski were actually in the honorary burial at Monterey Square in Savannah, as there were rumors that he was buried elsewhere. To put an end to the rumors, in 1996, the remains from the square were dug up and a forensic medical examination was carried out.
The nature of the wound on the skull completely coincided with the description of the wound received by Pulawski in battle, so the remains apparently belonged to him. Also, the age of the skeleton coincided with the age of the general.
But then, during the examination, it was revealed that the skeleton of Pulawski has many … female features. According to one of the assumptions, he could be a hermaphrodite.
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Pulawski's remains were reburied in 2005, but the mystery of his strange skeleton still haunts researchers. Recently, scientists from the University of South Georgia announced that they studied DNA from samples of Pulawski's bones and according to the results, he, most likely, was biologically a woman.
A documentary about this discovery, titled "The General Was Female?" aired last week on the Smithsonian Channel in America's Hidden Stories.
The researchers stated that Pulawski probably had an abnormality called Congenital adrenal hyperplasia, which affects the production of the steroid hormone.
Due to the increased production of this hormone, the female genitals are deformed and may appear similar to the male, however the subject remains female in all other respects and his skeleton is also female.
In the Pulawski skeleton, the pelvis was more extended, like in women, and the facial bones of the skull and jaws were also formed according to the female type.
The researchers also compared the DNA of the remains with the DNA of one of Pulawski's living relatives, and it confirmed that these were the remains of a heroic Pole (or now rather a Polish woman).
An indirect proof of the correct conclusions is also the fact that Kazimir Pulawski has never been married and had no children. He also did not have any relationships with women, although he had a long love correspondence with a certain girlfriend.