Barbara Czarnowska

Barbara Bronisława Czarnowska (4 December 1810 – 23 October 1891) was a Polish noblewoman, independence fighter and soldier. She disguised herself as a man to serve as a cadet in the Polish Army and was decorated with the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari.

Biography Czarnowska was born on 4 December 1810 in the village of Strugi, near Warsaw (then in the Duchy of Warsaw, First French Empire). She was from a noble but impoverished family who leased a small farm. Her father was Klemens Czarnowski and her mother was Ewa Czarnowska .

On 18 April 1831, she disguised herself as a man to serve as a cadet in the Polish Army, enlisting with the 1st Augustów Cavalry Regiment [ pl] at a military camp in Praga. She had dressed in a military uniform and cut her long hair after her first attempt to enlist was refused. Her regiment formed a battle line between the Jerusalem and Wola tollgates.

Czarnowska was decorated with the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari. She was the third woman in Polish history to be honoured with this distinction. She was also awarded the Star of Perseverance .

In 1836, Czarnowska married widower Kazimierz Zakrzewski, the owner of an estate in the village of Żaby pod Błonie. He died in 1841 and she remarried to Stanisław Żbikowski. She lived with her second husband in Warsaw,

Czarnowska's great-granddaughter became a democracy activist and leader in the National Organization for Women.