Born: 1825, Lithuania
Died: 1866
Country most active: Poland, Hungary, United States
Also known as: Appolonia Jagiello Tochman
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Jagiella Appolonia, distinguished for her heroic patriotism, was born about the year 1825, in Lithuania, a part of the land where Thaddeus Kosciusko spent his first days. She was educated at Cracow, the ancient capitol of Poland. There, and in Warsaw and Vienna, she passed the days of her early girlhood. She was about nineteen when the attempt at revolution of 1846 broke out at Cracow, it declared the emancipation of the peasantry and the abolition of hereditary rank, all over Poland This was the first struggle for freedom in which Mile. Jagiello, who was then at Cracow, took an active part. She was seen on horseback in the picturesque costume of a soldier, and was one of the handful of heroes who fought the battle near Podgórze, against a tenfold stronger enemy. After the uprising which commenced in Cracow was suppressed, Mile. Jagiello donned female dress, and remained undetected for a few weeks in that city.
She moved to Warsaw and remained in quiet retirement among her friends. But the struggle of 1848 found her again at Cracow in the midst of the combatants. This struggle accomplished very little. Miss Jagiello then went to Vienna (Hungary was also in the midst of war), and on the Hungarian camp which was reached with great difficulty, she volunteered her services in the battle, in which the Austrians were defeated, and lost General Wist, This was the first Hungarian battle in which this Lithuanian heroine took part. She was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant soon after this battle, and at the request of her Hungarian friends, took charge of a hospital in Comorn, where she remained until the capitulation of the fortress. She came to the United States in December, 1849, with Governor Ladislas Ujhazy and his family, where she and her heroic friends received a most enthusiastic welcome. She was one to whom children went feeling the charm of her womanhood, without being awed by her greatness. She was truly a heroine.
The following is excerpted from “Female Warriors: Memorials of Female Valour and Heroism, from the Mythological Ages to the Present Era,” by Ellen C. Clayton (Mrs. Needham), published in 1879 and shared online by Project Gutenberg.
Apollonia Jagiello, a Polish heroine, who acquired no little celebrity for her bravery during the insurrections of ’46 and ’48, was born in Lithuania, in 1825. She was educated at Cracow, in which city she passed her early life; sometimes changing for a few weeks to Warsaw or Vienna. In 1846 the insurrection broke out in the former city. Apollonia was, at this time, rather more than twenty, of medium height, with a graceful and slender figure. She was a brunette, with big black eyes, and a profusion of dark hair. Her arms and hands, which were more than once admired by those who saw her, were beautiful, and delicately formed. Although her lips were usually compressed, with a resolute expression of one who was not easily daunted, yet she could also smile most sweetly. “In that,” says the National Era (an American journal), “the woman comes out; it is arch, soft and winning—a rare and indescribable smile. Her manner,” adds this paper, “is simple and engaging. Her voice is now gentle or mirthful, now earnest and passionate—sometimes it sounds like the utterance of some quiet home lyre, and sometimes startles you with a decided ring of the steel.”
Apollonia, inspired by that enthusiastic love for[106] her country, which we so often find amongst Polish girls, joined the national army; and, throughout the struggle, which lasted only two or three months, was always found wherever danger was greatest. Mounted on horseback, she was one of those patriots who planted the White Eagle and the flag of freedom on the Castle and Palace of Cracow. She also formed one of that gallant little band which fought the battle near Podgorze against an army ten times their strength.
When the insurrection was suppressed, Madlle. Jagiello, resuming her own attire, remained in Cracow for several weeks without detection. She then removed to Warsaw, where she stayed until the year 1848, the Year of Revolutions. Directly the Cracovians took up arms, she joined their ranks, and displayed the same courage which she had shown two years previously.
The insurrection of ’48 proved, if possible, a greater failure than the first. Apollonia fled from Cracow, and reached Vienna just in time to take share in the skirmish of the Faubourg Widen. She remained here only a few days, her object being to join the Hungarian insurgents under Kossuth. With the assistance of some friends she succeeded in reaching Presburg; whence, disguised as a peasant, she was conveyed to the village of St. Paul by those unfortunate country-folks who were compelled to carry[107] provisions for the Austrian army. Crossing that part of the country occupied by the German troops, she reached the Hungarian camp, near the village of Ezneszey, on the 15th August, 1848. This was immediately before the battle fought here, in which the Austrians were defeated, and General Wist slain. Apollonia took part in this battle as a volunteer; but such was her courage that the Hungarian general presented her with a lieutenant’s commission.
Apollonia, on the urgent solicitation of all, undertook the superintendence of the hospital at Comorn. This post she resigned for a while to join as a volunteer in the expedition of twelve thousand men, commanded by General Klapka, who captured Raab. Returning to Comorn, the heroine resumed her hospital duties, and remained there until the fortress surrendered.
In December, 1849, in company with Governor Ladislaus Ujhazy and his family, Apollonia Jagiello sailed to the United States, where they received an enthusiastic welcome. Here she continued to show that hatred of tyrants for which she had ever been distinguished. One day, when she was at Washington, an album was handed to her, with the request that she would add her autograph to those it already contained. She took it with a smile, but it chanced that on the very page at which she opened, the signature of M. Bodisco, the Russian ambassador, figured[108] prominently. Flinging the album from her, with flashing eyes, she declared that her name should never appear in the same book with “the tool of a tyrant.”
The following is excerpted from A Cyclopædia of Female Biography, published 1857 by Groomsbridge and Sons and edited by Henry Gardiner Adams.
JAGIELLO, APPOLONIA, Distinguished for her heroic patriotism, was born about the year 1825, in Lithuania, a part of the land where Thaddeus Kosciusko spent his first days. She was educated at Cracow, the ancient capital of Poland—a city filled with monuments and memorials sadly recalling to the mind of every Pole the past glory of his native land. There, and in Warsaw and Vienna, she passed the days of her early girlhood.
She was about nineteen when the attempt at revolution of 1846 broke out at Cracow, and in this struggle for freedom Mademoiselle Jagiello took an active part. She was seen on horseback, in the picturesque costume of the Polish soldier, in the midst of the patriots who first planted the white eagle and the flag of freedom on the castles of the ancient capital of her country, and was one of the handful of heroes who fought the battle near Podgorzc, against a tenfold stronger enemy.
After the Polish uprising, which commenced in Cracow, was suppressed, Mademoiselle Jagiello reassumed female dress, and remained undetected for a few weeks in that city. From thence she removed to Warsaw, and remained there and in the neighbouring country, in quiet retirement among her friends. But the struggle of 1848 found her again at Cracow, in the midst of the combatants. Alas! that effort was but a dream—it accomplished nothing—it perished like all other European attempts at revolutions of that year, so great in grand promises, so mean in fulfilment.
Mademoiselle Jagiello then left Cracow tor Vienna, where she arrived in time to take part in the engagement at the faubourg Widen. Her chief object in going to Vienna was to inform herself of the character of that struggle, and to carry news to the Hungarians, who were then in the midst of a war, which she and her countrymen regarded as involving the liberation of her beloved Poland, and presaging the final regeneration of Europe. With the aid of devoted friends, she reached Presburg safely, and from that place, in the disguise of a peasant, was conveyed by the peasantry carrying provisions for the army, to the village of St. Paul
After many dangers and hardships in crossing the country occupied by the Austrians, and swimming on horseback two rivers, she at last, on the 15th. of August, 1848, reached the Hungarian camp, near the village of Eneszey, just before the battle there fought, in which the Austrians were defeated, and lost General Wist. This was the first Hungarian battle in which our heroine took part as volunteer. She was soon promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and, at the request of her Hungarian friends, took charge of a hospital in Comorn. Whilst there, she joined, as a volunteer, the expedition of twelve thousand troops under the command of the gallant General Klapka, which made a sally, and took Raab. She returned in safety to Comorn, where she remained, superintending the hospital, until the capitulation of the fortress.
She went to the United States in December, 1849, with Governor Ladislas Ujhazy and his family, where she and her heroic friends received a most enthusiastic welcome.