On the 243rd anniversary of the Siege of Savannah, Dr. Deaton looks at Casimir Pulaski’s role in the American Revolution and legends and uncertainties over Pulaski’s death and remains.
Off the Deaton Path
On the 243rd anniversary of the Siege of Savannah, Dr. Deaton looks at Casimir Pulaski’s role in the American Revolution and legends and uncertainties over Pulaski’s death and remains.
Thank you for your most interesting history footnotes. Continue to enjoy them.
Pulaski was identified as a male from the beginning of his life, so it is far more likely that he was intersex, or had ambiguous genitalia, NOT that he chose to “pass” as a male at a later time. The most common cause of what I suspect Pulaski had is congenital adrenal hyperplasia.This would explain facial hair, the male pattern loss of frontal hair, etc. My question now is this…..if they were able to do DNA to confirm that he was a Pulaski (and the person who matched with him was female so this had to be an autosomal DNA match) could they not also have simply determined the sex by DNA? Was the sample they had XX or XY?
Great segment on Pulaski. Happy to hear about the DNA results. As a Georgia history enthusiast I really enjoy your great reports. Keep ‘um coming!
Mike Purvis
So, intersex not female passing as male? Is that cause of facial hair depicted or other evidence?