Sculpture of Sybil Ludington in front of the Danbury Library by sculptor Anna Wyatt Huntington.
From Ms. Magazine’s Facebook page:
Born on this date in 1761 (d. 1839), Revolutionary War hero Sybil Ludington hasn’t nearly the household name of Paul Revere, but when she was just 16 she rode 40 miles on horseback (twice the distance Revere traveled on his midnight ride) through towns in Putnam County, N.Y., to warn people that the British were burning nearby Danbury, CT, and that militia troops should muster under Ludington’s father at their home
According to Wikipedia, she did receive congratulations from General Washington, and was commemorated on a postage stamp in 1975.
I suggest a Sybil Ludington School of Criminal Justice. And, obviously, a world in which I would have heard about this in elementary school, rather than 25 years later on Facebook.
– Jen
