Researchers Claim Revolutionary War Hero Was Actually An ‘Intersex’ Female

Mary Margaret Olohan 

Researchers from Georgia Southern University claim to have solved a centuries-old mystery surrounding Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski after finding a feminine looking body they believe to be Pulaski.

For more than 150 years, researchers wondered whether the Revolutionary War hero had been buried at sea or in an unmarked grave in Savannah, Georgia, according to a March press release from Georgia Southern University. A 1996 investigation reportedly shocked researchers when they uncovered the remains of a biologically feminine looking skeleton within the Pulaski Monument in Savannah. (RELATED: Revolutionary War-Era Ship Uncovered In Maine)

Georgia Southern University held a film screening on April 3 of “America’s Hidden Stories: The General Was Female?” The film examines the claim that Pulaski was an “intersex” female, meaning Pulaski had a condition known as congenital adrenal hyperplasia, according to The New York Post. The condition causes women to produce large amounts of male hormones that give them more masculine features and enlarged genitalia, Georgia Southern Assistant Professor of Anthropology Virginia Hutton Estabrook told The New York Post.

Pulaski’s jawline was round, and the general had “a petite frame and a feminine pelvis — all signs of an intersex person,” Estabrook told The New York Post. Pulaski’s great-niece provided DNA, which the researchers used to confirm the skeletal remains were Pulaski’s, according to Fox News.

“This is one of the first majorly influential people in history who we know was intersex,” Estabrook said Friday to The New York Post. “Chromosomally, Pulaski would have been XX — as in biologically female.”

“It’s not often that you get to rewrite the history books,” said Smithsonian Channel Executive Producer Tim Evans, according to the press release. “We are pleased to have Smithsonian Channel walk the final mile with this talented team of anthropologists who have finally uncovered the truth about one of America’s great war heroes.”

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