Sybil Ludington

Uncommon card · No. 193451

Sybil (or Sibbell) Ludington (April 5, 1761 – February 26, 1839) was an alleged heroine of the American Revolution and daughter of Patriot colonel Henry Ludington. Relatives of Ludington have claimed that on April 26, 1777, at age 16, she made an all-night horseback ride 40 miles (64 km) to stir American militiamen to attack British forces near Danbury, Connecticut, though scholars largely reject this story. According to the legend, Ludington rode near the Connecticut–New York border after British forces raided and burned Danbury, rallying combatants for the Battle of Ridgefield the following day. Printed accounts of Ludington's ride first appeared in an 1880 local history and then a 1907 posthumous publication by her grandchildren of her father's memoirs, with Ludington often described as a female Paul Revere. A 2015 report in The New England Quarterly concludes there is little actual evidence backing the story, and whether the ride even occurred has been questioned, with skepticism going...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Anthony22, Public domain