Over the next few weeks, we will post about events from the time of our country's founding. The individuals featured in these articles each took a personal risk in support of our country. They did not know what lay before them. There are lessons in these articles we can apply to today's events.
Sybil Ludington - Our female Paul Revere
By Karen Bentley
With special thanks to Joseph Holyoak and his 1776 Moments commentary
Making history at just sixteen years old, Sybil Ludington is our female Paul Revere. Sybil’s father, Sam, was a leader of the militia in the Danbury, Connecticut area. In 1777, the British had sailed into the area to destroy the guns, gun powder, supplies, and other critical wartime provisions, burning the town in the process.
Sam Ludington desperately needed to gather his militia to fight the British in order to preserve supplies. The task would prove exceptionally difficult given that it was planting season and all of his men were not in town, but out at their farms. Remember, time was of the essence because the British had arrived, the town was burning, and if left undeterred, they would move further in.
Needing to stay in the area to organize and lead the efforts once the militia gathered, Sam Ludington could not go himself to call in his militia. His oldest child Sybil volunteered for the task. She was not deterred by the required 40-mile journey (more than twice the distance of Paul Revere’s ride) and that she would be riding horseback in a dress through rain and darkness. It was an act of pure courage.
Today, we don’t know when the call will come. We also don’t know what personal state we will be in when the call comes, but we have a choice. We can shrink because it will be difficult, scary, unknown, or we can rise to the occasion.
Sybil Ludington demonstrated bravery and fortitude that evening for a cause which would come to define our country as we know it. The revolution before us now requires us to say "yes" to the call, even if we don’t know up front how we will do it. We must rise to make this revolution successful.
