Władysław Franciszek Jabłonowski

He was of mixed ancestry - the illegitimate child of Maria Dealire, an aristocrat, and an unidentified man of African descent. He acquired the nickname "Murzynek".[1] Maria Dealire's husband, the nobleman Konstanty Jabłonowski, accepted him as his son.

In 1783 he was admitted to the French military academy at Paris Ecole Militaire. There he was a schoolmate of Napoleon Bonaparte and Louis Nicolas D'avout. In a climate of bullying, he was subjected to racist taunts, including from Napoleon himself.[2] On graduation he joined the Régiment de Royal-Allemand where he attained the rank of lieutenant.

In 1794 he fought in Tadeusz Kościuszko's uprising against Tsarist Russia. He participated in battles of Szczekociny, Warsaw, Maciejowice, and at Praga. In 1799 he was made General of Brigade of the Polish legions.[2]

From 1801 he was the leader of Legia Naddunajska. He was sent on his own request to Haiti in May 1802 (before the decision to send the rest of the Polish legions). There he worked to put down the Haitian Revolution. Jabłonowski died from yellow fever on 29 September 1802 in Jérémie, Haiti.[2]

He is mentioned in Adam Mickiewicz's famous epic poem Pan Tadeusz in the context of a veteran of the Polish legions recounting what he had seen:

how Jablonowski had reached the land where the pepper grows

and where sugar is produced, and where in eternal spring'

bloom fragrant woods: with the legion of the Danube there

the Polish general smites the negroes, but sighs for his native soil[3]