Sybil Ludington

Yep, it comes up, so I must be right.

Sybil Ludington describes a 16-year-old girl who rode 40 miles through a stormy night, April 26, 1777, to rally her father's militia against British forces.

She read through Putnam and Dutchess counties in New York more than twice the distance of Paul Revere.

Interesting.

Mm-hmm.

I want us to, you know, I want us to learn about Sybil Ludington and Paul Revere.

It, to-- in my mind, this is not an either/or, uh, scenario.

It's, it's additive rather than, um, replacing something that already exists.

Well, there's the legend of what is believed to be the female Paul Revere.

Her name is Sybil Ludington.

She was born in April of 1761 in Fredericksburg, New York, the eldest of 12 children of Henry and Abigail Ludington.

Sybil's dad was a prominent figure in Fredericksburg.

By some accounts, she traveled on her horse, Star, in the middle of the night in a rainstorm on Muddy Road, shouting that the British were burning Danbury and calling out the militia to assemble at Ludington's home.

The 400-some troops were not able to save the supplies in the town of Danbury, but they were able to stop the British advance and push them back to their boats in the Battle of Ridgefield the next day in 1777.

Sybil Ludington was a real person, but whether her ride happened or not, and it can be still debated, I mean, there is some, I guess, historic accounts in writing of her ride, and there are others who cast doubt.

But one thing is for sure, that she was an American patriot and a founding mother.

There's already one named after Benjamin Rush, your favorite founder.

We've got Dr. Joseph Warren, Nathan Hale, Sybil Ludington, George Mason, Sam Adams, Abigail Adams, George With, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin.

We have George Whitfield.

John