The Forgotten Hungarian Origins of the Pułaski banner

The origins of the famous Pułaski Legion’s banner, a rare relic from the American Revolutionary War, reveal a significant yet overlooked Hungarian contribution to the fight for U.S. independence. Created under the guidance of Karcag, Hungary-born Colonel Michael Kováts, this flag not only symbolized the strength of an important cavalry unit of the American Revolution, but also carried deep Hungarian cultural ties, making it a testament to the small nation’s influence on the revolutionary cause.

The first Hungarian soldier to sacrifice his life for the independence of the United States and the only one ever to meet Gen. George Washington was Michael Kováts de Fabriczy, founding father of the U.S. cavalry.[1] His short American life as a soldier, recruiter, trainer and colonel commandant of the Pulaski Legion was deeply intertwined with the city of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.[2] The Moravian Lutheran Sisters, known as the Protestant “nuns” of the Moravian Brethren who settled in Bethlehem, are credited with creating the small flag carried by the Pulaski Legion, which is now preserved in Baltimore, Maryland, at the Maryland Historical Society.[3] The Pułaski flag, one of the very few military flags left from the Revolutionary War, is Hungarian-inspired and was made under the direct instructions of Colonel Kováts. Long forgotten and recently rediscovered research conducted by Hungarian American émigrés sheds light on this little known cultural-historical connection.[4]

The importance of the Pułaski Legion

The historical and military significance of the Pułaski Legion, also known as the American Legion, Independent Legion, or 1st Independent Legion, during the American Revolutionary War cannot be overstated. In the spring of 1777, Washington’s Continental Army, in its fight against British rule, incorporated this legendary unit into its cavalry corps. This integration was made possible by the leadership of Michael Kováts, a Hungarian hussar with strong Calvinist roots, and the young Polish nobleman Kazimierz Pułaski (anglicized as Casimir Pulaski).[5] With their European warfare experience, these two Central European cavalry officers were instrumental in organizing and training a formidable body of light cavalry in America capable of confronting the British army without external assistance.

The Polish and Hungarian founders and leaders of the cavalry unit, later known as the Pułaski Legion, made significant sacrifices for American independence. Colonel Kováts was killed in Charlestown, South Carolina (today Charleston), on May 11, 1779, while General Pułaski met a similar fate in action in Savannah, Georgia, five months later.[6] Their involvement, however, was not in vain, as it enabled the Continental Army to receive crucial aid from France via the port of Charlestown, ultimately securing the entire South for a year in support of the cause of American independence.

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Hungarian researchers connect the dots on the origins of the Pułaski flag

Delving into the origins of the Pułaski flag, the work of two Hungarian émigré researchers, Ödön (Edmund) Vasváry and Elemér Bakó is crucial in understanding the forgotten history of the flag, which symbolized the Legion and was created in February and March 1778.[7] Vasváry, a Hungarian Reformed pastor in Washington, D.C., and Bakó, a Hungarian Head of Department at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and a Finno-Ugric linguist, have shed light on this significant piece of history.[8]

Vasváry and Bakó identified the Pułaski flag as the earliest Hungarian-inspired flag in America. Vasváry, a prominent researcher of Hungarian-American history, discovered a significant letter in 1939 written by Michael Kováts to Benjamin Franklin on January 13, 1777, offering his sword for the cause of American freedom.[9] Elemér Bakó continued the Kováts research initiated by Vasváry.[10] Ödön Vasváry first wrote about the flag, known as the ‘Pułaski banner,’ in 1965.[11] The long-faded original flag is held today at the Maryland Center for History and Culture in Baltimore. Vasváry was the first to highlight the Hungarian historical significance of the Latin motto “Unita Virtus Forcior” (United Valor is Greater) embroidered on the banner, attributing it to Colonel Kováts, who was proficient in Latin.[12]

Myths and facts about the Pułaski flag

A number of myths surround the origins of the flag. A mural from the 1930s by George Gray is showcased on the wall of the Hotel Bethlehem in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.[13] It depicts the presentation of the Pułaski flag by the Moravian Sisters. In this painting, the colors of the flag do not match the original descriptions of crimson red or scarlet, yellowish-white, and green.[14] Instead, they are depicted in the colors of the Polish flag—red and white. Furthermore, the scene itself showing Pułaski in a proud pose never actually occurred.

Instead, the mural depicts a scene inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Hymn of the Moravian Nuns,” which the poet retracted in 1857 due to its ahistorical details.[15] The Lutheran Moravian Sisters were not nuns, and there is no historical evidence of the transfer scene in the order’s history.[16] However, it is on record that on Maundy Thursday, April 16, 1778, General Pułaski and Colonel Kováts attended a service with part of the Legion in the Old Chapel in Cedar Square and “were both greatly impressed by the solemnity of the occasion.”[17]

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Vasváry and Bakó suggest that the Protestant Colonel Kováts had significantly closer ties to the Lutheran Sisters of Moravia, who created the flag, and to all members of the Order, than the Catholic General Pułaski. It is likely that Pułaski himself was introduced to members of the Order by Kováts. Bakó also points out that Polish historians who studied Pułaski and the organizers of their cultural programs in the twentieth century overlooked Longfellow’s correction. They also failed to acknowledge that the names Moravian Brothers and Moravian Sisters referred to Germans from Moravia, not Slavs (Moravians). This is confirmed not only in printed literature but also by the eighteenth-century cemetery in Bethlehem, a historical landmark, where German names on the gravestones provide evidence.

The flag was draped over the dying General Pułaski after he was shot in Savannah, Georgia, on October 9, 1779.[18] This event contributed to the inseparable association between Pułaski and the flag, a connection that holds undeniable significance but is somewhat misleading in terms of the flag’s origins.

Michael Kováts’ personal connections to the flag

But why did Countess Susan von Gersdorff, the spiritual overseer of the Moravian Single Sisters, actually have the flag made?[19] Research by Vasváry and Bakó suggests that there were personal reasons behind commissioning the beautiful troop flag, and it was not Pułaski, but Kováts, who was involved in the creation of it.

In September 1777, the diary of the Nazareth group of the Moravian Brethren noted that Kováts, who was visiting them at the time and was very amicable, was “known to the Brethren from over there [Europe] as a renowned Prussian Hussar.”[20] Kováts’ strong rapport with the Sisters is further supported by an entry in the Bethlehem diary on January 24, 1778, which mentions that he sought their assistance in providing craftsmen and materials to equip a troop of horsemen. The entry reads, “The famous Col. Kobatsch, a Prussian officer of Hussars in the late war, arrived from Easton, to see whether we could aid him to equip and mount a corps of Hussars, which he is recruiting for Congress. He found, however, that we were unable to assist him, as our saddler, glove-maker, and founder had no stock for their trades.” The Bethlehem diary once again mentions Kováts in the morning of July 31, when heavy cannonading was heard. It notes that he and the well-prepared members of his corps recruited in Easton passed through on their way to Baltimore.[21]

After Pułaski stepped down as commander of the American cavalry, on March 28, 1778 the Continental Congress, at Washington’s suggestion, authorized Pułaski to form a Legion (a combined corps of cavalry and infantry) of 68 light horsemen and 200 infantry to protect and serve Congress.[22] By the time the permit arrived, Michael Kováts’ efforts had already been fruitful, and after necessary recruitment, the corps was ready in a short time. Pułaski wrote to Washington that Kováts is “the only man in America who understands this craft,” that is, organization and command of an independent legion. Kováts can therefore be regarded as the actual creator, trainer, and military commander of the Legion. The unit, known then as the American Legion or Independent Legion, later the Pulaski Legion, was now ready for a flag, which Kováts’ good friends, the women of the Moravian Order, made in the late winter and early spring of 1778. The flag’s design was developed by sisters Rebecca Langley and Julia Bader, and the sewing needlework was carried out by several sisters, including Anna Blum, Anna Hussey, Erdmuth Langley, Maria Rosina Schultz, and Anna Maria Weiss, as recorded in the Moravian diary.[23]

The relationship between Countess von Gersdorff and Kováts is interesting. Vasváry and Bakó show that in 1759, near Maxen in Saxony, the Austro-Hungarian army surrounded and captured nearly 20,000 Prussian soldiers, including the Gersdorff Hussars regiment with the commanding Gen. Otto Ernst von Gersdorff himself.[24] The two remaining companies of Hussars, lacking a commander, were placed under the leadership of Colonel Kleist by the Prussian king. Lt. Michael Kováts, a distinguished officer of the renowned 1st Prussian Hussar Regiment, assumed command of these troops. In recognition of his leadership and successful management of the Gersdorff regiment, Kováts, now a senior officer in the Prussian service, was bestowed with one of the highest military honors by the king – the order of knighthood “Pour le Mérite.” The Gersdorff family, particularly Susan von Gersdorff, who had departed from Prussia for America in 1763, owed a great deal of gratitude to Kováts.[25]

The crimson-red color of the Legion’s flag corresponded to the uniform of the Gersdorff Hussars, while the green tassel symbolized the famous 1st Prussian Hussar Regiment, known as the Green Hussars, under the command of Colonel Kováts.[26]

The assumed original appearance of the Pułaski flag

Based on Bakó’s research, the body of the flag is made of crimson-red silk, measuring 23.5 inches in height and 21 inches in width, and is bordered by green fringes on three sides.[27] The letters and decorations on the flag are yellowish white (originally, possibly completely white) and are embroidered with a green hue. The original color impression of the flag is therefore red-white-green, the Hungarian national colors that have been used since the early 17th century. The eye embroidery is brown, differing from this general color scheme, as is the green of the four-leaf clover embroidered in the corners of the flag. This may symbolize good luck, which holds significant importance in the hussar tradition.

An explosive grenade is also embroidered in the inner part of the four corners of the flag, indicating that the unit also has artillery; the embroidery is yellowish white. A diagonally striped, white-yellow band frames the decorative inner field.

The Hungarian historical background of the flag’s motto

The research conducted by Ödön Vasváry and Elemér Bakó provides insight into the origins of the flag’s motto, as well as the original red, white, and green color scheme. It is highly probable that Kováts derived the phrase Unita Virtus Forcior (“United in Virtue and Force” or “Union Makes Valor Stronger”) from an inscription on a coin of the Transylvanian prince Kristóf Báthori, which initially appeared as Virtus Unita Valet (“United Strength Brings Success”). The difference between the motto of the flag and the Báthori medal may have arisen from the fact that Kováts used the slogan of the medal written in classical Latin in English-speaking countries (the meanings of valet in English are confusing from the point of view of the original meaning). It is also important to emphasize the historical context of the motto, particularly the fact that Kristóf Báthori continued to fulfill his role as Prince of Transylvania after his brother István Báthori was elected king of Poland in 1575. The close friendship between Poland and Hungary in Europe was crucial in the face of Russian, Turkish, Habsburg, and German oppression. Vasváry and Bakó regarded the collaboration between Kováts and Pułaski as a continuation of the historic Hungarian-Polish alliance.

The initials of the United States, “U.S.,” one of the first such uses, are embroidered symbolically in the wreath of the motto. This gave the flag’s motto a truly American meaning.

The insignia that continues on the other side of the flag shows a triangle with a painted eye inside, symbolizing the all-seeing eye of God. Michael Kováts, whose ancestors served Rákóczi and the cause of Hungarian independence, may have been inspired by the flag that Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II, a key figure in Hungarian-Polish cooperation, donated to his guard of Transylvanian noblemen in 1708.[28] This blue silk flag also features the triangle with the all-seeing eye and the wreath of thirteen stars surrounding this symbol, representing the thirteen states on the Pułaski flag, as well as the motto Non Alius Regit (“No Other Rules” or “No Other Governs,” meaning no allegiance to the King) that encapsulated Colonel Kováts’ beliefs as a proud Calvinist and proficient Latin writer.

The message of the Pułaski-Kováts flag for today

In 1979, during the bicentennial commemorations of Michael Kováts’ death in Charleston, the Hungarian American Federation and its president, János Taba, commissioned artist Gabriella Fülöp (Mrs. Ferenc Koszorús), under the guidance of Elemér Bakó, to create detailed paintings of both sides of the flag. These paintings served as the basis for commissioning the National Flag Company to produce a physical version of what they referred to as the Pułaski-Kováts banner. They identified this flag as “the first Hungarian American flag” based on research by Vasváry and Bakó. This is the flag that was presented to the Charleston Military Academy Museum during the Charleston ceremonies.[29]

As the tricentennial celebrations of Michael Kováts’ birth unfold in Europe and America, the Pułaski-Kováts flag, as a historical artifact and strong symbol can serve as an enduring reminder that Hungarian, Polish, and American freedom fighters have fought shoulder to shoulder since the very inception of the United States.

[1] Michael Kováts de Fabriczy was born in a well-established noble military family with long-lasting service for Hungarian independence and freedom in August 1724 in Karcag (then Karcagújszállás), the capital of the historic region of Greater Cumania (Nagykunság), Hungary as a son of Imre Kováts de Keszi and Kaál and Sára Tompa de Kaál, and died on May 11, 1779 in Charlestown, South Carolina at the siege of Charlestown. For more details on Kováts’ ancestors: László Örlős, “The ancestry of George Washington’s Hungarian Hussar Colonel,” under review for publication in Family Tree, a family history periodical in Hungary (Családfa – Családtörténeti Magazin) and correspondence with Imola Kovács and László Örlős, August 2023.

[2] Ödön Vasváry, “The memory of Ferenc Pintér’s heroic deed (Pintér Ferenc hőstettének emléke),” American Hungarian World (Amerikai Magyar Világ), Vol. IX, No. 14 (April 2, 1972), 6.

[3] Count Casimir Pulaski’s original cavalry banner, 1778 Maryland Center for History and Culture (repository), attributed to Moravian Nuns, Bethlehem, PA, donated by Edmund R. Peale. Object ID: 1845.2.1, Resource ID: 2235, Accession Number: 1845.2.

[4] Hungary Foundation, Michael Kovats de Fabriczy Tricentennial, www.hungaryfoundation.org/michael-kovats-300/. 2024 marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of Michael Fabriczy Kováts, “father of the US cavalry.” In celebration, the Karcag-based Michael Kováts Friendship Society (represented by Zoltán Pintér and László Örlős), the Washington, DC-based Kossuth Foundation (represented by Sándor Végh) and the Hungary Foundation (represented by Anna Smith Lacey) signed a cooperation agreement to preserve and promote his legacy in Hungary and in the U.S. and form the Michael Kovats Memorial Committee.

[5] For more details regarding Kováts’ life and legacy see the bilingual (Hungarian and English) book by Árpád Zoltán Pintér, Michael Fabriczy Kováts, a Hungarian Hussar Officer on Two Continents (Fabriczy Kováts Mihály, egy magyar huszártiszt két kontinensen) (Budapest: Zrínyi Publishing House, 2021, 42-45.

Kazimierz Michał Władysław Wiktor Pułaski was born in a Polish noble family in Warsaw on March 4 or 6, 1745 as the second eldest son of Józef Pułaski and Marianna Zielińska, and died on October 11, 1779 at the battle of Savannah. Pułaski is often referred to as Count Pułaski, but never actually carried this title or referred to himself in such manner; in a letter, Benjamin Franklin stylized Pułaski as such Pulaski, a man with a history, pulaskionline.org/pulaski-a-man-with-a-history/).

[6] Aladár Póka-Pivny, “Appendices to the life story of the Hungarian hussar colonel Mihály Kováts, who died heroic death in the American War of Independence (Adalékok az Amerikai Egyesült Államok szabadságharcában hősi halált halt Kováts Mihály magyar huszárezredes élettörténetéhez),” Hungarian Military Review (Magyar Katonai Szemle), Vol. 4 No. 12 (1934), 224-225.

[7] Elemér Bakó, “The Pulaski Banner: America’s earliest Hungarian flag (A „Pulaski Banner”: Amerika legkorábbi Magyar zászlaja), manuscript collection of the University Library of the University of Debrecen. Debrecen, Kassai Street Campus, Social Science Library, Compact Warehouse.Manuscript, 1979, 1-6.

[8] Ödön (Edmund) Vasváry was born in Szeged, Hungary in 1888, moved to the United States with his family in 1935 to become a chief official of the American Hungarian Reformed Association, and died in Washington, DC in 1977. His unique collection, donated to the Károly Somogyi City and County Library in Szeged, Hungary, consists of Vasváry’s own handwritten notes, newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, small print, books, and a catalog containing biographical and bibliographic data written on about 20,000 slips. In its database consisting of 437 file cabinets, he organized the documents in alphabetical order showing the lives of the thousands of Hungarians who came to the American continent from the end of the sixteenth century.

Elemér Bakó was born in Hencida, Hungary in 1915, left Hungary for Germany after the second world war, and then moved to the United States in 1951. He died in Silver Spring in 2000. His collection and manuscripts were donated to the University Library of the University of Debrecen in October 2013. The twenty boxes of archive materials consist of contemporary linguistic research, Hungarian studies, history and other national topics covering the freedom fights led by Rákóczi and Kossuth as well as Hungarian military personnel active in the American Revolutionary and the Civil War. The author worked on Bakó’s manuscripts based on the research permit granted to Dr. Sándor Fazekas, the honorary chair of the Mihály Kováts Friendship Society, Karcag, Hungary.

[9] Mihály Fabriczy Kováts to Benjamin Franklin, January 13, 1777, American Philosophical Society Library, Mss. B.F85, Benjamin Franklin Papers, Vol. LXX. No. 88. 1-4.

[10] For more details on Elemér Bakó’s legacy in Hungary: Enikő Juha, “Legacy of Elemér Bakó in the manuscript collection of the University Library of the University of Debrecen,” Gerundium Vol. 6 No. 1-2 (2015), 159-168.

[11] Bakó, “The Pulaski Banner,” 1.

[12] Ödön Vasváry, “A 170-year-old letter (Egy 170 éves levél),” January 22, 1948, 1-2., 1. The Vasváry Collection. Károly Somogyi City and County Library, Szeged, Hungary. virtualis.sk-szeged.hu/kiallitas/vasvary120/kovats.html.

[13] Joseph A. Wytrwal, “Memorials to General Casimir Pulaski in the United States,” The Georgia Historical Quarterly Vol. 44, No. 3 (September 1960), 245-262. 251.

[14] Bakó, “The Pulaski Banner,” 3. Elizabeth Lehman Myers, A century of Moravian Sisters (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1918), 64-65.

[15] Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Hymn of the Moravian Nuns,” www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=200. John W. Jordan, “Bethlehem during the revolution. Extracts from the Diaries in the Moravian Archives at Bethlehem,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 13, No. 1 (April 1889), 71-89, 82.

[16] Myers, A century of Moravian Sisters, 65.

[17] Moravian Church Archives, Bethlehem Congregation. Diary of the Bethlehem Congregation, Vol. 32, 1778-1779, 22-23, www.moravianchurcharchives.findbuch.net/pics/X.._BethCong._~BethCong%20032._~BethCong_032_1013.Jpeg. Jordan, “Bethlehem during the revolution,” 82.

Elemér Bakó, “The flag of Colonel Kováts (Kováts ezredes zászlója),” manuscript, 1-14. 3, University of Debrecen.

[18] Ibid., 6.

[19] Susan von Gersdorff (1731-1805) was the spiritual and temporal head of the Single Sisters in Bethlehem from 1764 to 1784. She later filled the same position in Neuwied (1789-1795) and Ebersdorf (1795-1805). Susan and Otto Ernst von Gersdorff were members of the same von Gersdorff family. For more details on the Moravian sisters: „Pennsylvania German Blog,” alyssumarts.com/category/history/moravian-history/. For the ancestry of Susan and Otto Ernst von Gersdorff: FamilySearh, www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/portrait/GSF9-LDJ and Geni, www.geni.com/people/Otto-Ernst-von-Gersdorff/6000000086453734915.

[20] Bakó, “The flag of Colonel Kováts,” 4.

[21] Jordan, “Bethlehem during the revolution,” 79-80, 84.

[22] Journals of the Continental Congress 1774-1789 Vol. X, January 1-May 1, 1778 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1908), 291-293.

[23] Bakó, “The flag of Colonel Kováts,” 1, 6.

[24] Ödön Vasváry, “Colonel Kowáts and the “Pour le Mérite” award (Kowáts ezredes és a „Pour le Mérite” kitüntetés),” American Hungarian World (Amerikai Magyar Világ) (January 1976), 8, 10. Bakó, “The flag of Colonel Kováts,” 5.

[25] John W. Jordan, “Moravian Immigration to Pennsylvania, 1734-1765,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 33, No. 2 (1909), 228-248.

[26] Bakó, “The flag of Colonel Kováts,” 13.

[27] Ibid., 9-13.

[28] Árpád Markó, Ferenc Rákóczi II, the general (II. Rákóczi Ferenc, a hadvezér) (Budapest, 1934), 84-98.

[29] Bakó, “The Pulaski Banner,” 6.