Researchers from Georgia Southern University say they have made a startling discovery about the Revolutionary War general for whom the Pulaski Skyway is named.

An examination of the skeleton of General Casimir Pulaski, a Polish nobleman who was known as the “Father of the American Cavalry,” shows that he may have actually been biologically female, according to a release from the university.

Georgia Southern Assistant Professor of Anthropology Virginia Hutton Estabrook told the Chicago Tribune that their research showed that Pulaski had an intersex condition known as congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

The condition makes women produce large amounts of male steroid hormones that can make their genitals look more masculine, according to Mayo Clinic.

"That’s pretty much the only way to explain the combination of features that we see,’ Estabrook said in the Chicago Tribune report.

She added that the remains had a feminine pelvis, facial structure and jaw angle.

The full story on their findings will be shown in a Smithsonian Channel’s documentary, “America’s Hidden Stories: The General Was Female?” that is scheduled to air on April 8 at 8 p.m.

Pulaski was named brigadier general by George Washington after he helped stop a regiment of British soldiers from flanking his troopers during the the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania in 1777, according to a clip from the documentary.

He was wounded at the Battle of Savannah, Georgia, in 1779 and died aboard a military ship on Oct. 11, 1779.

For 150 years there was a question of whether Pulaski was buried at sea or in an unmarked grave in Savannah.

“Finally in 1996, when permission was granted to study remains within the Pulaski Monument in downtown Savannah, new evidence stumped scientists at the time, as their findings suggested that the skeleton in the tomb looked biologically female,” according to the release from Georgia Southern University.

However, no further study was done because of a lack of funding until Estabrook and Georgia Southern University graduate student Lisa Powell continued the research in 2015. Estabrook inherited custody of the remaining Pulaski bone samples from the 1996 investigation and Powell was given boxes of notes and materials by her father, Chuck Powell, a historian who was part of the original research team.

Together with the help of some funding from the Smithsonian Channel and other researchers they compared the “intersex conditions in search of patterns of skeletal involvement that might be similar to the Pulaski Monument remains and for any comparative known intersex condition skeletons in collections worldwide,” according to the release.

The Pulaski Skyway (Ashlee Espinal/The Jersey Journal)

The team also performed DNA testing of the bones helped back up their claims that they belonged to Pulaski.

There was a match between the bones’ DNA and the remains of Pulaski’s grand-niece, and the skeleton also was a similar height of the general and had the same hand injury that he suffered in battle, according to the Tribune article.

“It’s extremely likely that this is Casimir Pulaski,” Estabrook said in Tribune report.

Powell said she is looking forward to having the world see her findings in the documentary.

“We’re very proud of the documentary,” she said. “We’re also immensely grateful to Smithsonian Channel for their generous efforts in helping us complete this journey that my father and his team began 23 years ago.”

In addition to the 3.5 miles-long Pulaski Skyway, which was built in 1932 and spans Jersey City to Kearny, there is an elementary school named after Pulaski in Passaic, Casimir Pulaski School No. 8, Pulaski Park, also in Passaic, and another Pulaski Park in Bloomfield.

The Pulaski Day Parade is also held annually in Manhattan to commemorate him.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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