old European custom of being forty until he was fifty. Another error in application is outlined in 21 following.

  1. General Jozsef Grzegorz Chlopicki (1771-1854) was born in Galacia and entered the Polish army at sixteen, fighting in a prior war for Poland’s independence. After Warsaw fell on November 8, 1794 he went to France and served in the Army of the Cisalpine Republic under General Dombrowski.

The Count's uncle returned to Poland in 1806 with Emperor Napoleon protecting the Poles, and fought at Eylau and Friedland. From 1806 to 1811 he was in the Spanish Campaign and in 1812 he was with Napoleon's army in the ill-fated march to Moscow, fighting at Smolensk and on the Moskva. Here he became the General of a Division, and served for a time under the ill-tempered Grand Duke Constantine.

General Chlopicki became the dictator of Poland at the outset of the newest rebellion of the Poles against Russia in 1830, a position he was able to keep less than two months. His views were then those of an old man of many campaigns, and were too conservative to suit the young rebels of his nephew's group. They carried on their war until the fall of 1830 when they surrendered and were imprisoned. Although the famous uncle lived for twenty years after Ludwik was exiled to America, there is no hint of help from him to his nephew, and it seems certain none was ever asked. Perhaps neither he nor Ludwik's parents, if they were still living, were able to help him or any other of the exiles.

16. This was a political act as distinguished from a military one, and possibly ruined Ludwik's chances for amnesty.

17. Much of this is from a manuscript by Edmund L. Kowalczyk of Boston, Massachusetts, who has spent years in research on Polish exiles in the United States, and who traded information with the writer.

18. This is an extract of Ludwik Chlopicki's address at Vandalia, Illinois in January, 1835 as published then by the Sangamo Journal.

  1. See the article by Mrs. Isaac D. Rawlings, "Polish Exiles in Illinois," published in the Transactions for 1927 of the Illinois State Historical Society. She details the land grant troubles of these Polish exiles when Chlopicki and Rychlicki were acting as their agents. The need for research on the old El Paso resident began that year for the material in this chapter.
  2. Kowalczyk.
  3. November 22, 1833 is known to be the date the ships sailed from Trieste; Chlopicki probably considered he was on United States soil when he stepped aboard those two frigates. The date he left Poland also seems open to question, but possibly he was not on Polish soil in the campaigns following the date he gives.
  4. Waldo has been most helpful in this research. He has located a number of distant relatives of Ludwik Chlopicki, most of whom probably never knew what happened to their illustrious kinsman. Ludwik had a brother John who served under Napoleon as a lieutenant, and Edward, son of John, studied in Paris and returned to Poland as a professor.

Julius C. Chlopicki and his brother, Joseph B. A. Chlopicki left Russian occupied Poland in 1907 and in 1952 were living in Berwyn Heights, Maryland. Julius C. Jr. and Joseph V. Chlopicki were born in Washington, D. C., and Waldo says they still reside in that area. Isabella Marie Chlopicki, came to America in 1912 and married Dr. Joseph Michalski, a graduate of Georgetown University. Isabella was a member of the Polish Embassy prior to her marriage, and she has a son, Joseph Witold Michalski who at last report was a captain in the United States Army. (All of this note is from information supplied by Arthur L. Waldo of Phoenix, Arizona.)

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