Smolinski, Joseph
Army officer and public official. Born in Plock, Poland, March 16, 1809. Son of Valentine and Josephine Smolinski. During the Polish Revolution of 1830 31, he served with the famous Fourth Regiment as sergeant-major and for his conspicuous bravery at the battle of Grochow fought on Feb. 19th and 20th, 1831, was promoted to second and first lieutenant successively, and received the coveted "Virtuti Militari" cross. ln Sept. of 1931, when the Russians recaptured Warsaw, he fled to France. From June, 1832 ( to August, 1833, he served with the French Foreign Legion in Algiers. With the characteristics of the "Great Polish Emigration," he was always on the go. In April, 1836 he sailed for the U.S., going first to Louisiana, then to New York, where he became a naturalized citizen of the U.S., returned to France, then sailed for Brazil, where he stayed nearly a year. In 1842 he returned to America and settled in Quebec. He married Mary Ann Cain, who bore him three children, Wanda, Joseph J., Jr., and Ladislaus. In New York, at the outbreak of the Crimean War, he offered his services to the English government and they were accepted. He was first assigned to recruiting duty, especially among Poles, and then ordered to Halifax, Nova Scotia. On April 15th, 1855, he was given the rank of major by the Commission of the English Province of Nova Scotia, and less than two weeks later was advanced to the rank of colonel. His work in Halifax accomplished, he was soon ordered to the front. He took active part in the siege of Sebastopol, and conducted himself so bravely that he received from the British government the Victoria gold medal and the Turkish order of Medjidieh and generalship from the Sultan in the Imperial Ottoman army. He later fought in the American Civil War (1861-65) and the Polish Insurrection of 1863. He and his son, Colonel Joseph J. Smolinski, Jr., were active in General John O'Neill's Fenian Rebellion, the aim of which was to break away the Dominion from the British crown, General Smoliuski was appointed June, 1869, organizer for the Irish Republican army, for the Districts of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia. He so distinguished himself in this work that he was made chief of staff to the President of the Fenian Brotherhood. His last years were spent in Washington, D.C., where he held a position in the Treasury Department of the U.S. Government, dying December 21, 1886.From: "Who's Who in Polish America" by Rev. Francis Bolek, Editor-in-Chief; Harbinger House, New York, 1943