For the first time in her 16 years, Sybil Ludington felt as if the whole world rested on her shoulders. Not an hour earlier, she had been safe in her home in Fredericksburg, New York, with her parents and siblings. Now she was racing on horseback in the dead of night for the lives of her family, her village, and her fellow
The first sign of the emergency had been a sudden pounding at the door late that evening in April 1777. It was a messenger. British troops were destroying the nearby town of Danbury, he cried breathlessly.
Located just 12 miles away in Connecticut, Danbury was a key supply base for the American
The soldiers had lugged thousands of pounds of goods belonging to the American army into the street and set them on fire. Countless barrels of beef, flour, and corn went up in flames—along with about 1,000 tents. The troops then went wild, torching houses and forcing the residents to flee.
The messenger had ridden several hours from Danbury to reach Sybil’s father, Colonel Henry Ludington. He was the leader of a local