SAVANNAH, GA. - Bones exhumed eight years ago from Savannah’s monument to Brig. Gen. Casimir Pulaski failed to yield sufficient DNA to identify the remains as the Revolutionary War hero.
A draft report on the investigation into Brig. Gen. Pulaski’s disputed burial 225 years ago concludes "the mystery remains unsolved." But it also says historical records and skeletal injuries make a strong case for linking the remains to the Polish nobleman killed in the 1779 siege of Savannah.
"While the strong circumstantial evidence does suggest that the remains are Casimir Pulaski, the inability to obtain a DNA match leads to no viable conclusion," says the report obtained by The Associated Press.
Dr. James C. Metts Jr., the Chatham County coroner, hoped DNA testing of the remains exhumed in September 1996 would settle the question of whether Brig. Gen. Pulaski was buried at sea or placed in a secret grave.
The debate has divided historians since the bones were removed from an unmarked grave at a ruined plantation and moved in 1854 to Savannah’s Monterey Square, where the 54-foot Pulaski monument was erected a year later.
"To our great frustration, we were unable to solve the mystery," said Chuck Powell, administrator of the investigative committee led by Dr. Metts. "The final report, other than giving more complete information, will probably not change in its conclusions."
Dr. Metts submitted the draft to Savannah officials in November. The city released the findings after the AP requested a copy last week. Mr. Powell said he expects the final report will be released in July.
Known as the father of the American cavalry, Brig. Gen. Pulaski came to America in 1777 after he fought Russian incursion in Poland. Brig. Gen. Pulaski was mortally wounded during the ill-fated October 1779 battle to recapture Savannah, where Georgia was founded as the 13th American colony, from the British.
The draft report reveals Dr. Metts’ team nearly pulled the plug on its investigation after first examining the bones in 1996. The pelvic bone, a key to determining sex without DNA, appeared to be that of a woman.
"The pelvic bones were, however, more characteristically female than male," the report says, adding the bone showed features "seen in only about one in 20 male skeletons."
Some team members argued "we ought to stop here and declare it a female and walk away," Mr. Powell said. In the end, he said, the team concluded it could not rule whether the remains were male or female.
Dr. Metts’ team decided to push on, but attempts to match DNA from the remains with two of Brig. Gen. Pulaski’s relatives in Poland failed.
Scientists extracted DNA from the Savannah bones to try for a match with remains of Brig. Gen. Pulaski’s maternal great-grandniece, Theresa Witkowska, exhumed in Promna, Poland, in 1998. But Ms. Witkowska’s remains failed to yield a comparable DNA sample, the report said.
Years of genealogical research led to a living, unnamed Pulaski relative in Krakow last year. After an inconclusive test for a DNA match, the report says, scientists were unable to extract a more complete DNA sequence from the Savannah bones.
Without a valid DNA test, investigators concluded that circumstantial evidence shows the remains are "consistent with the physical appearance of Casimir Pulaski."
Examinations of the skull and bones seemed to match what’s known of Brig. Gen. Pulaski’s age, height and facial features. A healed fracture to the right hand fits an injury Brig. Gen. Pulaski once described in a letter. A bone tumor on the forehead fits a wound he suffered fighting the Russians in Poland.
Without solid proof, it’s tough to debunk Brig. Gen. Pulaski’s burial at sea. Two officers who served under Brig. Gen. Pulaski wrote accounts of his watery grave. One of them, Pulaski aide-de-camp Paul Bentalou, said he witnessed the burial.