Ignacy Szymański  Ignatius Constantine Romuald Szymanski Vandernoot or Ignacy Szymański or Ignatius Szymanski (1806–1874), nicknamed "Colonel Ski" or "Old Ski", was a Polish war hero and American soldier. He served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Son of Simon Szymanski and Francisca Vandernoot  As a Polish General, he fought in the Ulan Division along with Prince Adam Woronecki in the November Uprising (1830–1831 uprising) against the Russians. His father had fought in the Kościuszko Uprising (1794), so he came from a long list of Polish freedom fighters. After the Polish army was defeated, some of the soldiers went to France looking for Napoleon´s help. Later, some of them were remembered as France´s war heroes, such as the Prince Józef Poniatowski. Not convinced about Napoleon´s support to recover Poland, not for the French aid [?] helping some of his soldiers who were still looking for evacuation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, hidden from the Russians, he went to England and later to the United States, seeking help. He was very active helping soldiers and other Polish immigrants in the U.S., as was described by Victor Labeski, one of his officers who arrived in New York on the ship "Adria" in 1835, from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1835, Szymański moved to New Orleans, where he married Charlotte Hortense Lacoste. He became a well-known man, evidenced by his being mentioned many times in the New Orleans newspapers between 1835 and 1875. His friends in the South were other Poles who had been living in the area, notably Gaspar Tochman, Valery Sulakowski, and Hypolite Oladowski. When the Civil War began, Szymański was recruited as a colonel for the Chalmette Regiment, formed mainly by Scandinavian immigrants from the Louisiana State Militia. Later, he served as the agent for the exchange of prisoners in the Trans-Mississippi Department. After the war he came back to his plantation, "Summer Hill Farm", and his cotton and sugar cane field called "Sebastopol". He accumulated goods and real estate sufficient to be considered a rich man. He even owned racing horses and a yacht.