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Sybil Ludington Volunteers to Warn the Countryside

By T.M. Jacobs

On the evening of April 26, 1777, a fierce rainstorm came through eastern New York into Connecticut as the British began an attack on Danbury, Connecticut. The local militia needed to be sent for and warned that the British were coming, but who would make this gallant ride? Paul Revere? William Dawes? Jack Jouett?

No. It would be sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington.

Col. Henry Ludington
Henry Ludington served in the French and Indian War before settling in Patterson, New York, where he operated a mill. In 1760, he married his first cousin, Abigail Ludington, and on April 5, 1761, in Fredricksburg, they gave birth to their first of twelve children, Sybil Ludington.

Henry Ludington volunteered for service again when the Revolution began. He went on to fight in the Battle of White Plains and served as an aid to General George Washington. As the British maneuvered toward Patterson, New York, Col. Ludington formed the 7th Regiment of the Dutchess County Militia.

When the British began their attack on Danbury, a messenger was sent to Col. Ludington's. He knew he needed to muster his troops that were spread about the countryside, but the messenger was not familiar with the area. His daughter, Sybil, volunteered for the duty.

Attack on Danbury, Connecticut According to the Historic Patterson website:

On April 25, 1777, a 2000 man British force commanded by General Tryon landed at Fairfield, Connecticut, near the mouth of the Saugatuck River, arriving with twenty transports and six warships. They moved eight miles inland and camped at Weston. The next day the force moved north into Danbury, doing no damage to private property along the way. In Danbury, however, they began a search for stores of Continental Army supplies, also leaving chalk marks on the properties of British loyalists and informers. Properties without chalk marks were set to be destroyed. By 4 PM, several Continental Army storehouses and three private homes were in flames. For security reasons, the Continental Army had recently transferred its supplies from Peekskill to Danbury, where they were thought to be safe, and were consequently poorly guarded. The stores included foodstuffs such as flour, beef, pork, sugar, molasses, coffee, rice, wheat, corn, and several hundred cases of wine and rum. Hospital cots and tents were also stored there, along with clothing and shoes and cooking utensils. Medicines and other medical supplies were stored in New Milford, Connecticut, and were not affected by the British raid. The British soldiers found the rum and decided to consume it rather than destroy it. More fires were started by drunken soldiers, as military discipline broke down. Messengers were dispatched in all directions to announce the British arrival and news of the fires.

Her sister, Mary, wrote her name as "Sebil," while Sybil herself signed her Revolutionary War pension application as "Sebal." The 1810 census lists her as "Sibel," and her tombstone is carved with the spelling "Sibbell." Regardless of the spelling, Sybil Ludington's act of patriotism does not go unforgotten.

On that rainy evening of April 26, 1777, Ludington, who had turned sixteen only days before, mounted her horse, Star, and traveled some 40 miles on muddy roads, shouting that the British were burning Danbury. From Carmel to Mahopac onto Stormville, she knocked on almost every door and summoned some 400 troops that gathered at Col. Ludington's home.

Although the troops could not save the supplies at Danbury, they did stop the British advance forcing them to retreat to their boats. At the Battle of Ridgefield, according to Charles E. Claghorn's Women Patriots of the American Revolution: A Biographical Dictionary, the British statistics were 27 killed, 15 officers and 104 men wounded, and 29 missing. The American forces, besides fatally wounded General David Wooster, suffered six officers and 100 Privates killed, three officers and 250 Privates wounded, and 50 more captured. A plaque marks the area where the battle ensued:

It was because of Sybil Ludington's contribution to the cause that the militia had time to organize a resistance against the British. General Washington was even reported to have acknowledged her bravery.

After The War In 1784, Sybil met and married Edmund Ogden, a successful lawyer in New York. They had one child born in 1786, a son, named Henry, after his grandfather. When Henry was only thirteen years old, his father contracted yellow-fever and died. Sybil, now a single parent, raised their young son and to earn money became a successful tavern keeper.

Henry Ogden pursued an education, eventually becoming an attorney, community leader, and later in life an assemblyman. His eldest son, Edmund Augustus Ogden, followed in the footsteps of his great grandfather, Col. Ludington. He graduated from West Point Academy and was a commemorated military hero with a monument at Fort Riley, KS.

Henry moved the family some time after his father's death to Unadilla, New York, where Sybil lived out the rest of her life.

Sybil Ludington Is Honored Sybil Ludington Ogden died on February 26, 1839 and is buried beside her father in the Maple Avenue Cemetery.

Ludington's courageous act of summoning the American militia is broadly honored. In Putnam County, the trail she followed is marked with historic markers. In Carmel, New York there is a statue called "The Female Paul Revere." Also, the town of her birth, Fredricksburg, has been renamed Ludingtonville.

At the Danbury Public Library there is another statue of Sybil Ludington, sculpted by Anna Wyatt Huntington.

The US Postal Service later recognized Ludington when they issued a stamp of her during the 1975 Bicentennial series titled "Contributors to the Cause."