(Image 1: Sybil Ludington Monument)
Last night in 1777, 16 year old Sybil Ludington rode 40 miles to alert the American militia that the British had moved on Danbury, CT. Ludington was able to alert over 400 militia and she fended off an attack during her ride with her father’s musket.
(Image 2: Sybil Ludington Historical Marker)
Ludington’s ride was partially the result of her father being a colonel in the colonial militia:
On April 26, 1777, Colonel Ludington received word from a rider that the nearby town of Danbury was under attack by British troops and needed help. At the time, Ludington’s regiment had disbanded for planting season, and his men were miles apart at their respective farms. With the rider too tired to continue and Colonel Ludington focused on preparing for battle, young Sybil rose to the cause. Some accounts say she volunteered; others that her father asked for her service, but either way, she rode through the night alerting the Colonel’s men of the danger and urging them to return to the fight. She rode all night through dark woods and in the rain, covering anywhere from 20 to 40 miles (estimates vary). By the time she returned home, hundreds of soldiers were gathering to fight the British. Ludington’s troops arrived too late to win the battle, though they did fight with departing British soldiers.
(Image 3: Close Up of the Base of the Ludington Monument)
… completed her mission around daybreak, covering nearly 40 miles—more than twice what Paul Revere had ridden—raising 400 men, and even fighting off a highway man with her father’s musket. The militia caught up with the retreating British and beat them back, too late to stop the attack, but not too late to make them pay dearly.
Alexander Hamilton wrote Col. Ludington: “I congratulate you on the Danbury expedition. The stores destroyed have been purchased at a pretty high price to the enemy.”
Sybil received personal thanks from both Gen. George Washington and Gen. Rochambeau, the French commander fighting with the Americans.
Colonel Henry Ludington’s memoir claims:
“One who even now rides from Carmel to Cold Spring will find rugged and dangerous roads, with lonely stretches. Imagination only can picture what it was a century and a quarter ago, on a dark night, with reckless bands of “Cowboys” and “Skinners” abroad in the land. But the child performed her task, clinging to a man’s saddle, and guiding her steed with only a hempen halter, as she rode through the night, bearing the news of the sack of Danbury. There is no extravagance in comparing her ride with that of Paul Revere and its midnight message. Nor was her errand less efficient than his. By daybreak, thanks to her daring, nearly the whole regiment was mustered before her father’s house at Fredericksburgh.”
(Image 4: Sybil Luddington’s Tombstone)
I think Ms. Luddington would be particularly touched that this happened on the 241st anniversary of her ride:
#PantherFamily, we congratulate Capt. James Simpson on a successful command of C/1-508 and wish Capt. Shaye Haver well as she assumes command! pic.twitter.com/k9yag3FHSr
— 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Abn Div (@PantherBrigade) April 26, 2018
Yep, that’s a Ranger tabbed woman taking command of an operational company in the 3rd Brigade Combat Team/82nd Airborne Division. That’s progress!
H-Minus! & All the way!
Open thread!
(Sorry I was a day late on this, but things have been a wee bit busy…)
HumboldtBlue
The mud of Harmony Church was tough.
Capt. Shaye Haver is far tougher.
I’d follow.
Frankensteinbeck
Well, I’m impressed.
Stuart Frasier
Er, that’s three different spellings of her name in three monuments. I know that orthography was fluid then, but one would think names would be consistent.
Mary G
The country wasn’t all that grateful:
Adam L Silverman
@Stuart Frasier: I hope Steeplejack doesn’t check in. This might just do him in.//
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: The more things change…
Adam L Silverman
@Stuart Frasier: And two of those monuments are within a few feet of each other.
efgoldman
Wait! Sybil reloaded a musket…. on horseback?
Corner Stone
What’s a Colonal?
/Jackie Steeps
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: Time to up your game!
Obdurodon
Nice bit of history there. Thank you!
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Stuart Frasier:
Why in the world would you think that? I’ve seen the same name spelled different ways in the same document.
Adam L Silverman
@Obdurodon: You’re welcome. I’m just sorry I couldn’t get to it last night.
Adam L Silverman
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: You have Michael Cohen prepared legal documents? Put them in a safe place. Michael Avenatti will be along to collect them shortly.
Omnes Omnibus
If I remember correctly from my time in Newtown, Danbury was burned.
OTOH, Congrats to CPT Haver.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
I’ve never ridden an ‘orse nor fired a musket. I had enough trouble with an M-14 while standing on firm ground. Nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn last nite.
I did play the Anthem for Patriot William Dawes’ ride-by every April 19.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Yep. And looted too.
trollhattan
@efgoldman:
I once mixed margaritas in a cordless blender while driving a Saab. #TotallyTheSameI’maPatriotToo
PhoenixRising
@efgoldman: She rode 40 miles with her horse in a hackamore, which is a type of halter that doesn’t have a bit. I mean…I wouldn’t ride a circle in a fenced ring in a hackamore. Let alone carrying a musket!
scav
As a change from orthographic-derived pedantry, I’m struck by the statue showing her apparently riding side saddle, while elsewhere she’s described as clinging to a man’s saddle.
Yarrow
She was 16 years old! The kids are alright.
Adam L Silverman
@scav: Propriety must be maintained. Even if it isn’t historically accurate.
Mnemosyne
@Stuart Frasier:
No, names were fluid, too.
I’m still wincing at “colonal.” Nothing like a spelling error on a historical marker that is itself now a historical object.
Steve in the SFO
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
***SHUTTERS***
Steve in the SFO
@efgoldman: you’ve seriously never ridden a horse?
kattails
I always enjoyed seeing this statue when I visited a friend near Carmel. Note that the base reads “presented by Anna Hyatt Huntington”, who was in fact the sculptor, and is worth a lookup online. She was noted for her animal sculptures, lived to be nearly 100, and if this was presented in 1961 she would have been 85. Her father was a professor of paleontology and zoology at Haahvaahd.
Mnemosyne
@Mary G:
Marriage was more than a little equivocal at the time. If you moved in together in a new town and told people you were married, there wasn’t much people could do to prove otherwise, but it was also hard to prove that you were married without your “marriage lines,” i.e. a document from the minister kind of like a marriage certificate.
Fun fact: the future George IV really did marry Mrs. Fitzherbert, as was long rumored. Her copy of the marriage lines is in an archive. However, the marriage was invalid from the start because she was a Catholic and he didn’t get prior permission from the king.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne:
And which was placed by the State Education Department.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow:
Betsy Devos, Proprietress.
scav
@Adam L Silverman: Suppose that explains the horses bit too.
Sigh. Would have been fun to work up a scenario involving the man who’s saddle she borrowed.
Mnemosyne
@scav:
I tried zooming in, but I couldn’t quite tell if she was riding on an actual sidesaddle or if she was leaning off the horse.
@Adam L Silverman:
Given that it was created by a woman sculptor, it could also have been a symbolic “backwards and in high heels” statement.
sdhays
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: I have a four letter name and people have trouble spelling it right in 2018.
Amir Khalid
@Mnemosyne:
A thought just occurred to my internal 12-year-old: maybe “colonal” wasn’t a spelling error …
efgoldman
@Steve in the SFO:
I was a city kid. I may have ridden a carnival pony when I was a very small boy.
I’m old enough, barely, to remember horse-drawn peddler’s carts in the old West End (torn down for “redevelopment” in the mid-1950s) of Boston
Origuy
There’s a smaller version of the statue outside the Danbury, CT, library.
Mnemosyne
@Amir Khalid:
I’m pretty sure that several generations of seventh graders have snickered about that sign.
kattails
@Adam L Silverman: Meant to say thank you also, it was a nice treat at the end of a long day. Now, please explain the meaning of “Ranger tabbed woman”, I’m sure I’ll be happier for Capt. Haver and everyone if I get the broader picture.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
I zoomed in and both boots are on the left side of the horse. The left boot appears to be in a stirrup but I wouldn’t swear to that.
Now forty miles side saddle in the rain and at speed? On trails? I’m not a horseman and have never ridden side saddle but that sounds freaking impossible.
Ruckus
@kattails:
Means she’s the real deal. Not just someone assigned to the command, she’s very likely well earned it.
Major Major Major Major
You know who else liked orthographic consistency.
Wapiti
@kattails: CPT Haver was one of the first two women to complete the US Army’s Ranger School (in 2015), so she wears a “Ranger” tab.
Mary G
@kattails:From the Army Times:
Adam L Silverman
@kattails: One gets a Ranger tab when one completes the Ranger school.
https://www.military.com/military-fitness/army-special-operations/army-ranger-school-prep
Two groups of US Army personnel do this. Actual members of the Ranger Regiment and other Soldiers who have chosen to take the course for professional development reasons. CPT Haver is only one of two women to have successfully completed the course as it has only recently been opened to female Soldiers. Autoplay video at the link below.
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/03/13/first-female-ranger-grads-open-up-about-the-aftermath-and-joining-the-infantry/
Much more at the link. There has now been a 3rd female Soldier to earn her Ranger tab:
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2015/10/12/3rd-female-student-earns-army-s-prestigious-ranger-tab/
opiejeanne
@Stuart Frasier: Yes, you’d think the spelling of a surname especially would be set, but no. In my family I’ve seen siblings listed on the Census with their last name spelled slightly differently from each other. It makes tracing the Chessman (Chesseman, Cheseman, Cheeseman) family a bit of a challenge.
And they only started naming all the people in a family in the 1850 census so the fluidity was still around until pretty recently.
opiejeanne
@Mary G: It took the Canadian government until 1832 to award the promised land or money to the part of my family who aided Burgoyne in upstate New York, acting as guides leading to the Battle of Saratoga (which ironically was fought on their farm). This was promised to my 4X great grandfather and his son, and only finally paid to my great great grandmother.
Ruckus
I know a guy, last name Ludington, if he’s part of this family I can see where she would have gotten the moxie to not only try but succeed at such a task.
SiubhanDuinne
@Major Major Major Major:
Hilter?
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
Reminder to self: never read the comments.
My buddy knows someone who knows someone who knows a guy that says they didn’t have to do the same tests, and they have DUIs on their records, also, too!
opiejeanne
@Ruckus: The way Sybil is depicted here suggests that the saddle has a horn and that she has hooked her right knee around it.
I’ve only ridden a horse a couple of times, twice with a “western” saddle and once bareback and I know nothing about riding side-saddle. Except for that time that the asshole choir director at my church wanted to borrow a newish baby for the outdoor Christmas pageant and my youngest was the only one available. That meant I was Mary and had to ride sideways on the back of a donkey, which was pretty scary, nothing to hang onto and while the donkey was a sweetie I wasn’t sure how used to having a rider he was. I don’t think my expression when I entered the church patio was particularly beatific.
My youngest was a year old at that point, but I wouldn’t let them use her when she was 10 days old the previous year. The asshole choir director was really very annoyed with us when my daughter (Baby Jesus was a girl!) pulled her bottle out of her mouth with a loud POP! and held it up so everyone watching got a good look. People were laughing while the choir was singing a very solemn Christmas carol (don’t ask me why they weren’t singing something joyful), including the choir. Oh he was mad! But he was an asshole so who cares?
Did I mention he was an asshole?
Major Major Major Major
@SiubhanDuinne: indeed.
Ruckus
@opiejeanne:
Not enough times, it deserves another mention.
Anything is possible but really side saddle? There just isn’t any way to hold on, hang on to a musket, let along reload the damn thing…… Give the lady all the props in the world, she deserves it for sure. It’s called gravitas. I’ve known guys who thought they were tough. Most of them would not have even attempted this. I’ve also known a few women who I don’t think would have hesitated a second.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne:
Except here, the comments are the best part.
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Always???????
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
Okay, you guys made me go find a sidesaddle video and being able to reload on one is more plausible than I thought, because there’s an apparatus on the saddle that you could use to brace the gun’s stock while you reloaded.
I also had to laugh because that video was so obviously produced for a (straight) female audience.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus: I was going to say, with some exceptions. Like that Ruckus fellow.?
Mary G
@Mnemosyne: When I read it I assumed she whacked one of them over the head with the musket, still seems like it would hard to ride and shoot at night.
West of the Rockies
@opiejeanne:
That’s a very funny story! You’d think a little levity would be well received.
Ruckus
@West of the Rockies:
Assholes rarely know how to laugh. Crap, piss and moan, that they know well. Notice that many of the congregation had no problem laughing and enjoying themselves. But it is a sign of an asshole that laughter is one of the most difficult things for them to muster up, and often when they do it is forced. For they are assholes.
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I thought there might be at least one commenter that deserved mention. Bitch.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
A musket is a fairly long weapon. She would have had to stand on the saddle to reload it with the but anywhere but down by her foot. Also remember that this is at night, most likely on basically a trail over roughish ground, she had to ride at a brisk pace, hang on, guide the horse, figure out a way to study the rifle to pour the powder, place the wad, load the round, pull out the rod and hold both it and the gun still enough to get the rod down the barrel, tamp down the load, replace the rod in the rod holder………. That’s one round loaded while not being able to see much of anything. Not saying side saddle is impossible, just an entire level or 12 harder.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus: heh.
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
Harder than reloading it on the ground under normal conditions, but probably not that much harder than reloading it in a regular saddle.
tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat)
Thank you for this. I thought about Sybil Ludington’s ride when I read your previous post about the other Revolutionary rider. I grew up next door to Carmel. That statue is a familiar sight, but not one I have seen in decades. It was very cool to see it honored on my favorite blog.
Currants
@efgoldman: and in the rain, no less?
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
That is a young adult historical novel waiting to happen.
J R in WV
I’m thinking that musket was loaded while she stopped somewhere at least somewhat sheltered from the weather. You can’t reload a musket in the heavy rain very effectively – one drop in the wrong place and you’ve got to dig all that material out of the gun before you can reload it.
She probably took other breaks as well, while involved in this ride, think how long she rode. Not to mention letting the horse take a break. Maybe one of our semi-pro riders will kick in on that. But I have ridden horses in the past, and worked a horse on our farm. They (must) take breaks when doing anything hard. Just like we do.
Brachiator
@Adam L Silverman:
Belatedly, cool story about Ludington, and cool contemporary story about Captain Shaye Haver.
I particularly liked this piece that you quoted.
Encouragement vs throwing up obstacles and negative expectations can make a huge amount of difference.
Bill Door
Got a smile out of the heroic statue. Here is what probably went down IRL- Sybil’s “noble steed” was most likely a plow horse, short on beauty but long on endurance, just what you need for a 20+ mile slog on rough ground. It was ridden occasionally, which is why her father had a saddle- so no side saddle. Being a 16-yo girl, she had most likely made something of a pet of the horse, riding it around with only a halter, which is why she felt she could make the ride.
Our heroes are often just ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances, like the fellow who disarmed the gunman at the Waffle House- they saw what had to be done, and did it.
That would make a great story- for both young adults and the oldies.
opiejeanne
@J R in WV: Yes, I was going to say something like that.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
Very true and easily deserves to be repeated often.
kattails
@Adam L Silverman: Only 24 hours late, (because work stuff) but thanks to all for such detailed information, I’ll follow up on your links. And yes, happy for her and everyone who supported her, who stuck their neck out, who thought outside the box. I’m having a hard time responding because this has me rather sitting and contemplating. It’s expansive rather than the horribly contracting, cringing kind of news we’ve sadly had to become accustomed to, if that makes any sense.