US Revolutionary War hero Pulaski was a woman, new research says

US Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski was awoman or intersex, according to a documentary due to be broadcast onMonday.The Polish-born general, who has been credited with saving the lifeof George Washington during the 1775-83 war against Britain, wasknown as the "Father of the American Cavalry."He went to the US voluntarily to fight, and was known for hisextraordinary bravery in battle as well as for being a very privateperson, difficult to deal with and having no interest in women ordrinking.Researchers first made the discovery about Pulaski's sex 20 yearsago, when a monument to the general in Savannah, Georgia, wasdismantled and Pulaski's bones were exhumed.Charles Merbs, then a forensic anthropologist at Arizona StateUniversity (ASU), studied the bones together with Karen Burns, aphysical anthropologist. "Dr Burns said to me before I went in, 'Go in and don't come outscreaming,'" he told the university in an article published thisweek. "She said study it very carefully and thoroughly and then let'ssit down and discuss it. I went in and immediately saw what she wastalking about."The skeleton is about as female as can be." At that time, despite tracking down the bones of a female relative ofPulaski, researchers did not have the DNA techniques that coulddefinitively prove the bones in the monument belonged to Pulaski.However last year, three researchers at ASU took up the case again -and were able to match mitochondrial DNA in both Pulaski and hisgrand niece.