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

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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 the university.

A 1996 investigation reportedly shocked researchers when they uncovered the remains of a biologically feminine looking skeleton within the Pulaski Monument in Savannah.

The film “America’s Hidden Stories: The General Was Female?” premieres Monday on the Smithsonian Channel. It examines the claim that Pulaski was an “intersex” female, meaning Pulaski had a condition known as congenital adrenal hyperplasia, The New York Post reported. 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 newspaper.

Pulaski’s jawline was round, and the general had a petite frame and a feminine pelvis, Estabrook said Friday to The New York Post. Pulaski’s great-niece provided DNA, which the researchers used to confirm the skeletal remains were Pulaski’s, Fox News reported.

“This is one of the first majorly influential people in history who we know was intersex,” Estabrook continued. “Chromosomally, Pulaski would have been XX — as in biologically female.”

WATCH:

Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski is known as the “Father of the American Cavalry,” but new evidence suggests that the general may not have been male. Monday at 8PM, watch America’s Hidden Stories. https://t.co/6l06H40g6K pic.twitter.com/SR4zWmbkCV

— Smithsonian Channel (@SmithsonianChan) April 4, 2019

“It’s not often that you get to rewrite the history books,” Smithsonian Channel Executive Producer Tim Evans said in a statement. “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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