19. Paul Revere is a Well-Known Hero, But the Young Girl Who Outrode Him Has Been Largely Forgotten
American Revolutionary War hero Paul Revere is famous for his 18-mile midnight ride in April, 1775, to alert the colonial militia of the approaching British. The event was dramatized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in Paul Revere’s Ride. In 1777, Sybil Ludington (1761 – 1839) made a 40-mile midnight ride to warn the colonial militia of approaching British troops. That was more than twice as far as Paul Revere’s ride, and she did it when she was only sixteen.
Sybil Ludington was born in Fredericksburg (now Ludington), the eldest of a large family of 12 children. Her father, Henry Ludington, was a New York militia officer, and later an aide to George Washington. On the night of April 26th, 1777, word reached the Ludington household that New York’s governor, general William Tryon, was about to attack nearby Danbury, Connecticut, where supplies and munitions for the region’s militia were stored.