Sybil Ludington
Encyclopedia
Henry Ludington
Colonel Henry Ludington was the commander of the 7th Regiment of the Dutchess County Militia, a volunteer regiment of local men who fought in the Battle of Ridgefield in April, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War. His daughter, Sybil Ludington, is known as the female Paul Revere for her...
, was a heroine of the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
who became famous for her night ride on April 26, 1777 to alert American colonial forces to the approach of enemy troops. Her action was similar to that performed by Paul Revere
Paul Revere
Paul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride...
, though she rode more than twice the distance of Revere and was only 16 years old at the time of her action. She was an aunt of Harrison Ludington
Harrison Ludington
Harrison Ludington was an American Republican politician who served as the 13th Governor of Wisconsin and a mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.- Ancestry :...
, the Governor of Wisconsin
Governor of Wisconsin
The Governor of Wisconsin is the highest executive authority in the government of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The position was first filled by Nelson Dewey on June 7, 1848, the year Wisconsin became a state...
.Childhood=
As a child Sybil (who was born on the 5th of April 1761) had 11 siblings Rebecca, Mary, Archibald, Henry, derrick, tortillas, Abigail, Anna, Frederick, Sophia, and Lewis. Her father’s name was Henry who was a colonel in the in French & Indian War in 4/10/1756. Her mother’s name was Abigail ludington.
The Ride
Ludington's ride started at 9:00 P.M. and ended around dawn. She rode 40 miles, more than twice the distance of Paul Revere, into the damp hours of darkness. This is especially remarkable because modern-day endurance ridersEndurance riding
Endurance riding is an equestrian sport based on controlled long-distance races. It is one of the international competitions recognized by the FEI. There are endurance rides worldwide....
using lightweight saddles can barely ride such distances in daylight over well-marked courses. She rode through Carmel
Carmel, New York
Carmel is a town located in Putnam County, New York, USA. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 36,465.There are no incorporated villages in the town, although the hamlets of Carmel and Mahopac each have populations sizable enough to be thought of as villages.The Town of Carmel...
on to Mahopac
Mahopac, New York
Mahopac, New York, is a hamlet in the Town of Carmel in Putnam County, New York. An exurb of New York City some to the south, Mahopac is located on US Route 6 on the County's southern central border with Westchester County...
, thence to Kent Cliffs, from there to Farmers Mills and back home. She used a stick to prod her horse and knock on doors. She managed to defend herself against a highwayman with her father's musket. When, soaked with rain and exhausted, she returned home, most of the 400 soldiers were ready to march.
The memoir for Colonel Henry Ludington states,
The men arrived too late to save Danbury, Connecticut
Danbury, Connecticut
Danbury is a city in northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It had population at the 2010 census of 80,893. Danbury is the fourth largest city in Fairfield County and is the seventh largest city in Connecticut....
. At the start of the Battle of Ridgefield
Battle of Ridgefield
The Battle of Ridgefield was a battle and a series of skirmishes between American and British forces during the American Revolutionary War. The main battle was fought in the village of Ridgefield, Connecticut on April 27, 1777 and more skirmishing occurred the next day between Ridgefield and the...
, however, they were able to drive General William Tryon
William Tryon
William Tryon was a British soldier and colonial administrator who served as governor of the Province of North Carolina and the Province of New York .-Early life and career:...
, then governor of the colony of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and his men to Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
.
Sybil was congratulated for her heroism by friends and neighbors and also by General George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
.
After the war, in 1784, "when she was twenty-three years old, Sybil Ludington married Edmund Ogden, with whom she had six children. Edmund was a farmer and innkeeper, according to various reports. In 1792 Sybil settled with her husband and six children in Catskill, where they lived until her death on February 26, 1839, at the age of 77. She was buried near her father in the Patterson Presbyterian Cemetery in Patterson, New York
Patterson, New York
Patterson is a town in Putnam County, New York, United States. The town is in the northeast part of the county. Interstate 84 passes through the southwest part of the town. The population was 11,306 at the 2000 census. The town is named after early farmer Matthew Paterson...
. Her tombstone, at right, shows a different spelling of her first name.
In 1935 New York State erected a number of markers along her route. A statue of Sybil, sculpted by Anna Hyatt Huntington
Anna Hyatt Huntington
Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington was an American sculptor.-Life and career:Huntington was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her father, Alpheus Hyatt, was a professor of paleontology and zoology at Harvard University and MIT, and served as a contributing factor to her early interest in animals and...
, was erected near Carmel, New York, in 1961 to commemorate her ride. Smaller originals of the statue exist on the grounds of the Daughters of the American Revolution
Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....
Headquarters in Washington, DC; on the grounds of the public library, Danbury, Connecticut; and in the Elliot and Rosemary Offner museum at Brookgreen Gardens
Brookgreen Gardens
Brookgreen Gardens is a sculpture garden and wildlife preserve, located just south of Murrells Inlet, in South Carolina. The property includes several themed gardens with American figurative sculptures placed in them, the Lowcountry Zoo, and trails through several ecosystems in nature reserves on...
, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina
Murrells Inlet, South Carolina
Murrells Inlet is a small fishing village in Horry County, South Carolina, United States that is considered to be the "Seafood Capital of South Carolina". The population was 5,519 at the 2000 census. It was once primarily a fishing village, but has grown substantially in modern time, along with the...
.
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
in the "Contributors to the Cause" United States Bicentennial
United States Bicentennial
The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to the historical events leading up to the creation of the United States as an independent republic...
series.
Each April since 1979, the Sybil Ludington 50-kilometer footrace has been held in Carmel, New York. The course of this hilly road race approximates Sybil's historic ride, and finishes near her statue on the shore of Lake Gleneida
Lake Gleneida
Lake Gleneida is a controlled lake in Carmel, New York, United States. It is part of New York City's water supply system, created when an original pond was dammed in 1870.-Geography:...
, Carmel, New York.
Sources
- Binkley, Marilyn R., Reading Literacy in the U.S.: Findings from the IEA Reading Literacy Study, DIANE Publishing, 1996, ISBN 0788145126
- Bohrer, Melissa Lukeman, Glory, passion, and principle: the story of eight remarkable women at the core of the American Revolution, Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743453301
- Miller, Brandon Marie, Growing up in revolution and the new nation, 1775 to 1800, Lerner Publications, 2003, ISBN 0822500787
- Moore, David W., Developing readers and writers in the content areas K-12, Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2006, ISBN 0205494749
- Weatherford, D., Milestones : A chronology of American women's history. New York: Facts on File, 1997, ISBN 0816032009