Sybil Ludington statue The Continental Army was using Danbury, Connecticut as a storage place. Supplies such as clothing, medicine, and ammunition, as well as pork, flour, and molasses were kept there. On the night of April 26, 1777, two thousand Redcoats under General Tryon, started an attack on Danbury. American Colonel Ludington had just dismissed his men after a long period of duty. It was planting time. The men had been allowed to return home to start their crops. Someone had to ride and alert the men to hurry back for the march to Danbury. Colonel Ludington, asked, Sybil, his sixteen-year-old daughter to go and sound the alarm. He could not go because he had to prepare the men. He needed someone who knew the area and where the individuals lived. Sybil rode from Ludingtonville to Carmel, into Mahopac and Mahopac Falls, Kent Cliffs and back home through Stromville. She shouted the news warning families to be ready to flee. Arriving back home at daybreak, she found four hundred troops preparing to leave for Danbury. General Tryon's men had overrun the town burning almost every building. They had also discovered a cache of rum and helped themselves. When General Tryon heard of Colonel Ludington and another regiment led by General Wooster, were marching on the town, his army was in no condition to fight. The two regiments drove the Redcoats back to Long Island Sound. A statue of Sybil and her horse, Star, stands in Carmel near Lake Gleneida. More American Revolution Women Warriors Introduction Lydia Darragh Sybil Ludington Deborah Gannet Sampson Women in the Continental Army Civilian Women's Roles Back to Cry Havoc #31 Table of Contents Back to Cry Havoc List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by David W. Tschanz. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com