Sybil Ludington
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person
Sybil (or Sibbell) Ludington (April 5, 1761 – February 26, 1839) was an American woman who allegedly made a ride during the American Revolutionary War, though modern accounts dispute this. On April 26, 1777, at age 16, Ludington, the daughter of a Colonel Henry Ludington, was claimed to have made an all-night horseback ride Template:Convert to rally American militiamen in neighboring towns after British forces raided and burnt Danbury, Connecticut.
Accounts of Ludington's ride are based on a brief mention in 1907 memoirs about her father, published privately by his grandchildren. A 2015 report in The New England Quarterly says there is little evidence backing the story,<ref name= Hunt/> and whether the ride occurred has been questioned<ref name=Tucker>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name= Eschner/><ref name= Lewis>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name= Pollak/> since at least 1956.<ref name= Hunt220/>
Relatively unknown through the 1870s, Ludington's story gained recognition around the time of World War II, after New York State was convinced to place historic roadmarkers in locations she was speculated to have visited on her ride. The myth grew thereafter, from memorial statues honoring her, to books being written about her, culminating with being honored on a United States Bicentennial postage stamp that was released on March 25, 1975, which depicts her on a horse.
Early life, family and death
Ludington was born on April 5, 1761, in Fredericksburg, New York.<ref name= Hunt189/> She was the first of 12 children<ref>Johnson 1907, p. 45.</ref> of AbigailTemplate:Efn and Henry Ludington, a gristmill owner. According to his relatives, Sybil's father had fought in the French and Indian War, and volunteered to head the local militia during the Revolutionary War.<ref name=memoir/>
At the age of 23, in 1784 Ludington married Edmond Ogden. They had a son named Henry in 1786.<ref name= Hunt189/>Template:Efn In 1792, the family settled in Catskill, and Ogden died in 1799. In 1811 Ludington moved to Unadilla, New York.<ref name="historicsybil">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Hunt18990>Hunt 2015, pp. 189–190.</ref>
Ludington lived in Unadilla until her death on February 26, 1839, at the age of 77. She was buried near her father in the Patterson Presbyterian Cemetery in Patterson, New York.<ref name=Hunt18990/> Her tombstone shows a different spelling of her first name.<ref name= Tucker/>
Ludington's ride
Accounts that did not emerge until the 20th century, about her alleged 18th century ride, recognize Ludington as a heroine of the American Revolutionary War.<ref name= Hunt188_212>Hunt 2015, pp. 188, 212, 214.</ref><ref name=CauseStamp/><ref name=NRAAward/><ref>Bohrer 2003</ref>
Historical accounts
Accounts originating in the 20th century, from the Ludington family, say Sybil played an important role after the British raid on Danbury, Connecticut.<ref name=Hunt/><ref name= Pollak/><ref name= "memoir"/>
According to the story printed 140 years after the alleged feat,<ref name= Hunt/> on April 26, 1777, then 16-year-old Sybil Ludington rode Template:Convert from her hometown in Fredericksburg, New York (near Danbury, Connecticut) through Putnam County, New York, to rally approximately 400 militiamen under the command of her father, Colonel Henry Ludington, after British forces raided Danbury,<ref name="Frank">Template:Cite book</ref> where the Continental Army had a supply depot.<ref name=Hunt187>Hunt 2015, p. 187.</ref> American troops from New York and Connecticut rallied to engage the British the next day in the Battle of Ridgefield, forcing them to retreat.<ref name= Tucker/>
A brief mention<ref name=Lewis/> of Ludington's ride was published by his grandchildren in 1907 as part of Ludington's father's memoirs.<ref name="memoir">Template:Cite book (Project Gutenberg file)(google books).</ref> Modern accounts say Ludington was congratulated for her heroism by General George Washington;<ref name=CauseStamp/> more recent scholarship has raised doubt that the ride even took place.<ref name=Hunt>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name= Tucker/><ref name= Eschner/><ref name=Lewis/>
Research history
A 2022 Smithsonian magazine article written by Abigail Tucker states that the earliest known record of the 1777 account of Ludington's ride came in 1854 from Sybil's nephew, Charles H. Ludington, who sought to have his aunt recognized as a hero.<ref name= Tucker/> Ludington was included in an 1880 book about the New York City area by local historian Martha Lamb.<ref name=Eschner/> A briefTemplate:Efn later reference appeared in the 1907 memoirsTemplate:Efn written by Willis Fletcher Johnson about Sybil's father and published privately by his grandchildren.<ref name=Eschner>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="memoir"/>
Tucker states that letters written by Ludington herself do not mention the ride.<ref name= Tucker/> Accounts vary as to whether she rode bareback or sidesaddle, what the name of the horse was, and how her name was spelled (Sybil, Cybal, Sibyl, Sebil, Sybille, or Sibbell).<ref name= Tucker/>
In 1838, Ludington asked for a pension based on her husband, Ogden, having fought in the Revolutionary War, but she could not prove that she was married to him. According to Paula Hunt, writing in The New England Quarterly journal, "None of the sworn affidavits attesting to Henry Ogden’s military service and the legitimacy of Sybil's marriage mentioned her ride, nor did she attempt to claim it as justification for a pension."<ref name=Hunt189/>
Lamb stated that her account relied on sources including letters, sermons, genealogical compilations, wills, and court records to document details.<ref>Lamb 1986, pp. v–vi.</ref> She cites no sources,<ref name= Tucker/> nor provides documentation of the ride. Hunt suggests the account may have been told to Lamb by Ludington's descendants.<ref>Hunt 2015, p. 190.</ref>
Owing partly to a lack of contemporary accounts, Hunt raises questions about the events.<ref name=Hunt/> She writes that neither of the original publications about the ride "had offered any information about Sybil's course",<ref>Hunt 2015, p. 199.</ref> and the purported route was devised speculatively by the project managers who later installed historic markers, a "relatively inexpensive but increasingly popular means for states and localities to promote tourism".<ref>Hunt 2015, pp. 196–199, quote on p. 196.</ref> The installation of the historic roadside markers beginning in 1934 – although based on speculative locations according to Hunt – led to publications that propelled Sybil to the status of a heroine by 1937, and the publication of a 1940 poem about her brought the story to a national audience.<ref>Hunt 2015, pp. 196–201.</ref> Doubts about the story had been raised as early as 1956;<ref name=Hunt220>Hunt 2015, p. 220, note 114.</ref> contrasting it to the Betsy Ross story, Hunt cites Henry Noble McCracken's, Old Dutchess Forever! The Story of an American County and two New York news articles from 1995,<ref name=Pollak/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> writing that:
In Sybil's case, the state-sanctified historical roadside markers, statue, and postage stamp celebrating her ride, and the many books and newspaper and magazine articles that retold her story, had created an aura of authority that effectively dispelled any intermittent bouts of skepticism.<ref name=Hunt220/>
Hunt has provided a history of how the Ludington story has been portrayed in the media and literature, and in efforts to promote tourism.<ref name= Hunt/> Pollak wrote in 1975 in the New York Times that "Many children's books treat the account as historical fact", although the Putnam County Historian indicated there was "no solid evidence that Sybil actually made the ride".<ref name= Pollak/> Hunt states that many popular details were fiction, such as the horse named Star, the stick she held, and the distance of 40 miles.<ref>Hunt 2015, pp. 202, 207.</ref> Hunt states that the two accounts of Ludington's ride were not mentioned in any other significant history produced in the same era, and that even as stories of heroic women of the colonial era proliferated by the 1870s, the only published accounts of Ludington were Lamb's and Johnson's.<ref>Hunt 2015, p. 195.</ref> She writes:
Sybil's ride embraces the mythical meanings and values expressed in the country's founding. As an individual, she represents Americans' persistent need to find and create heroes who embody prevalent attitudes and beliefs.<ref name="Hunt-2">Hunt 2015 pp. 187–222; quote p. 187.</ref>
Contemporaneous sources suggest that the Americans, including the residents of Danbury, were already aware of the approaching British forces,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> as noted in The New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury, May 19, 1777, which stated:<ref>The New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury, May 19, 1777</ref>
On Saturday, the 26th of April, express came to Danbury from Brigadier General Silliman, advising that a large body of enemy had landed the day before at sun set, at Compo, a point of land between Fairfield and Norwalk, and were marching toward Danbury. Measures were immediately taken.
In 1996, the national Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) said that the evidence was not strong enough to support their criteria for a war heroine, and added a note to an exhibition saying of the ride, "It's a great story, but there is no way to know whether or not it is true."<ref>Hunt 2015, pp. 217–218.</ref> The DAR chapter near her historic home says that her exploit was documented, and it continues to honor her.<ref>Hunt 2015, p. 218.</ref>
Hunt concludes, "The story of the lone, teenage girl riding for freedom, it seems, is simply too good not to be believed."<ref>Hunt 2015, p. 222.</ref>
Legacy and honors
In 1934, New York State began to install a number of historic markers along Ludington's purported route.<ref>Hunt 2015, pp. 196–200.</ref>
A commemorative sculpture by Anna Hyatt Huntington was erected at Lake Gleneida near Carmel, New York, in 1961.<ref name= Pollak>Template:Cite news</ref> Smaller versions of the statue are at the Daughters of the American Revolution headquarters in Washington, D.C.,<ref>Hunt 2015, p. 217.</ref> the public library in Danbury, Connecticut, and at Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.<ref name=Offner>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1975, Ludington was honored with a postage stamp in the "Contributors to the Cause" United States Bicentennial series.<ref name=CauseStamp>Template:Cite web</ref> The National Rifle Association of America instituted the Sybil Ludington Women's Freedom Award in 1995.<ref name=NRAAward>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name= Hunt214>Hunt 2015, p. 214.</ref>
Composer Ludmila Ulehla wrote the 1993 chamber opera Sybil of the American Revolution based on the story of Ludington's ride.<ref name=portrayed>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2014, Ludington was featured on the American Heroes Channel documentary American Revolution: Patriots Rising.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The movie Sybil Ludington: The Female Paul Revere was produced in 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
- Betsy Ross – credited by relatives with making the first US flag; accounts dismissed by historians
- Laura Secord, Canadian heroine of War of 1812
- Women in the American Revolution