There were some good soldiers among these
fighting adventurers. Kosciuszko, later famous as a Polish
patriot, rose by his merits to the rank of brigadier general in
the American army; De Kalb, son of a German peasant, though not a
baron, as he called himself, proved worthy of the rank of a major
general. There was, however, a flood of volunteers of another
type. French officers fleeing from their creditors and sometimes
under false names and titles, made their way to America as best
they could and came to Washington with pretentious claims.
Germans and Poles there were, too, and also exiles from that
unhappy island which remains still the most vexing problem of
British politics. Some of them wrote their own testimonials;
some, too, were spies. On the first day, Washington wrote, they
talked only of serving freely a noble cause, but within a week
were demanding promotion and advance of money. Sometimes they
took a high tone with members of Congress who had not courage to
snub what Washington called impudence and vain boasting. "I am
haunted and teased to death by the importunity of some and
dissatisfaction of others" wrote Washington of these people.
One foreign officer rendered incalculable service to the American
cause.
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