Listen children and you shall here, of the midnight ride of Sybil Ludington

                Sybil Ludington, was the daughter of Abigail and Henry Ludington. She was born in 1761 and became the eldest of 12 children. Her father was originally a loyalist. In Sybil's young life he fought for the king, but the cry of no taxation without representation got inside his head and in 1775 he broke his bonds with the Royal army and was recruited by George Washington as Colonel of the Seventh Militia of Dutchess County, New York, earning him the hatred of other loyalists. General How placed a huge bounty of 300 guineas on his head (its hard to equate $ to guineas but if we make the rough estimate that 1 guinea = $1.75 that's about $528 1776 money which is about $13,900 in 2014 money when you account for inflation) so a lot of people wanted to kill him. He was also in charge of a very important tract of land, called the Hudson Highlands. The area contained dense forest where Native Americans and also bandits lived, The bandits were taking advantage of wartime chaos to harass unprotected towns, the militia lived in spread out farm houses. The Hudson high lands were the most direct route from Long Island Sound to Connecticut and if captured would split the colonies in two. Sybil lived on the edge of this territory in what is now Kent, New York.
                 By 1775, Sybil had eight brothers and sisters whom she helped her mother care for. When she managed to find a spare moment she would be out riding her horse star who she had trained from a colt. Sybil knew her fathers life was in danger and came up with a plan. One night about 50 men planned to capture Sybil's father and take him for the reward. Sybil was on watch and saw them coming from behind the mill. She woke her 14 year old sister Rebecca and they roused the other children. The children lit all of the candles in the house and marched back and fourth with muskets, throwing shadows on the windows. Sybil shot a single shot out of the window into the night and deterred the would be kidnappers.
                In 1777 her father returned home after months of fighting. The farmers in the area had been allowed to return and plant in order to feed their families. On April 5th Sybil turned 16, 21 days later, just after she put her siblings to bed their was a knock on the door. Sybil listened as an exhausted terrified rider reported to her father that the British were burning Danbury, Connecticut and coming this way. Sybil's father ordered the man to ride on and alert the militia, the man could not or would not ride on. Accounts vary as to whether Sybil spoke up or was asked by her father but either way she said she would do it. She knew her father could not leave his militia men and their was no one else. The trip would take Sybil 40 miles through dense forest filled with bandits, British, and dangerous animals through the pouring rain, armed only with a stick. She rode up to doors and pounded with her stick calling:
                                  "The British are burning Danbury - Muster at Ludingtons!"
She his from the scouting British soldiers behind trees. According to some accounts when she reached caramel they rang the church bells to alert people faster. A man from the town offered to see her home but instead she sent him east to alert another town and continued on her ride. Her ride started at 11 pm and ended when she returned home at dawn. They were too late to save Danbury but they did drive the British back out of the Hudson Highlands and into long Island sound. Sybil was congratulated by George Washington, she had mustered over 400 men, she is remembered in a monument in Caramel, New York.

Both of these people were very brave and important to the founding of our country, here are some of their differences.

	Paul Revere	Sybil Ludington
Age at time of ride	40	16
Miles	12-14	about 40
Where	streets, some of them lit	Through the forests and fields of the Hudson Highlands in the rain
how long	two hours 11pm- 1am	Nine hours 9pm- dawn(around 6 am)
captured?	yes	no