In October 1779, the Revolutionary War siege of Savannah ended in a decisive British victory. On the podcast Stuff You Missed in History Class, host Tracy V. Wilson detailed how American forces under Lincoln and D'Estaing "were forced to retreat" after the death of Polish cavalry commander Casimir Pulaski. Pulaski, who had developed gangrene from his battle wounds, was reportedly consigned "to a watery grave" by his reluctant crew, though that account has sparked centuries of skepticism.
The mystery shifted from the open ocean back to the city's public square in 1996. Wilson explained that the local Pulaski Monument in Savannah "was badly in need of repair," prompting a physical restoration that doubled as a scientific investigation. The required repairs offered a rare opportunity for DNA testing on the skeletal remains interred at the monument, hoping to finally resolve the dispute over where the general was actually laid to rest.
This excavation was meant to settle a long-standing historical dispute over whether the commander was buried at sea or at Greenwich Plantation, a debate Wilson noted "has been going on since the middle of the nineteenth century." While some insisted the commander was buried at sea, others argued his true resting place was on Savannah land. However, when the Pulaski Identification Committee issued its final report ten years later, the results were inconclusive, leaving researchers with more questions than answers.
As Savannah continues to preserve its historic monuments, the intersection of forensic science and archival history ensures that the city's secrets are never truly buried. Future DNA technologies and historical deep-dives may yet provide the definitive answers that the 1996 committee could not.