I love the way you can discover interesting individuals when
doing research. I don’t even recall what I was seeking when I came across this
bit about someone called Sybil Ludington.
She was the daughter of Colonel Henry Ludington and lived
near the town of Danbury, Connecticut, in 1777. The same evening of the famous
Paul Revere ride, a rider came to the
Ludington household to warn them that British troops and British loyalists had attacked
the nearby town. Since Colonel Ludington had to prepare for battle, he asked
his sixteen-year-old daughter Sybil to ride through the night, alerting his men
of the danger and urging them to come together to fight back.
At 9 pm the night of April 26, the young girl set out to
recruit the Colonel’s disbanded regiment. Ludington
rode all night through the dark woods, covering forty miles through Kent to
Farmers Mills. She covered forty miles, damp from the rain and exhausted, before
returning home just before dawn.
When she got home, more than 400 men were ready to march. Statesman
Alexander Hamilton wrote to her, praising her deed and she was later commended
by George Washington for her heroism. A statue of her was erected along her
route in Carmel, New York, along with many other markers of her historic ride.
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