[Vision2020] The Ride of Sybil Ludington

[Tom Hansen]

“The Ride of Sybil Ludington” by Marjorie Barstow Greenbie

Come and listen, good people, and you shall hear, 
Of a girl who rode, like Paul Revere,
Long the borders of Connecticut and New York, 
Where the Yankees stored rations of flour and pork.
 
We were ready to fight the redcoats to the ground,
If they came from their ships stranded out on the sound, 
They, in vain, thought to keep us from being free,
And to keep us in bondage from George ‘cross the sea.
 
Colonel Ludington summoned his men and did say, 
“Your winter service is over, not to need you I pray,
For we have new recruits who are willing and strong, 
To keep the Hudson highlands you’ve guarded so long.”
 
“So take up your plough and lay by your guns, 
Return to your homes, to your wives and your sons, 
Give thanks to the lord for this moment to seize, 
To plant all your crops and to take your ease.
 
In Danbury now there is food, there is rum,
We’ve plenty to eat if the redcoats come,
There is flour, molasses and bacon in store,
To keep us as we fight them to Hell’s own front door.
 
General Wooster at Ridgefield can stop them cold,
Give them nothing at all to have or to hold,
But at last, long sleep in the Connecticut ground,
If those redcoats should land from their ships on the sound.
 
Sibyl Ludington stood by her father’s side,
Sixteen and lovely, the Colonel’s own pride,
The eldest of twelve, she had to cook and sew, too, 
And at home with her family had plenty to do.
 
But she often found time with the soldiers to spend,
To their joys and their sorrows a willing ear she did lend,
As they now were sent back to the homes whence they came, 
She spoke to them all and called them by name.
 
Now Sibyl was everywhere cheering the men,
With news of their homes, their families and friends, 
She gladdened their hearts with hot coffee and bread, 
For the long journey home that she knew lay ahead.
 
That night in her room o’er a well-filled board,
She and her family gave thanks to the Lord,
For the family was safe, no Redcoats in sight,
And many fathers and sons were home safe that night.
 
When the rest of her family had gone to bed, 
Sybil at last could rest her tired head,
She lay ‘neath the quilt, with her sister, at rest, 
And peacefully dozed in the family nest.
 
She woke with a start at a crashing noise,
At the door below she heard her father’s voice,
“The Redcoats in Danbury? Did I hear you right?”
Then she heard a man saying, “They surprised us tonight.”
 
“The people are fleeing! The Town is aflame!
I spread the alarm along the road as I came,”
Then the Colonel was saying, “Go muster the men, 
We must get them together, our country to defend.”
 
Now Sibyl was standing by her father’s side, 
She saw that the man was too weary to ride, 
“Let me go,” she said, “to call the men out,
If I get there in time, the Redcoats we’ll rout.”
 
Her father objected to this long, hard ride,
Through country where British deserters might hide. 
He knew of the danger and his manner was grave, 
When at last his permission to Sibyl he gave.
 
While she dressed and made ready, he saddled her steed,
He kissed her goodbye and bade her God-speed,
He gave her a stick to knock on their doors,
She could sound the alarm without leaving her horse.
 
A murky, spring mist cloaked every star, 
And red, to the eastward, dim and far,
The fires of Danbury gloomed in her sight, 
As Sibyl rode into the soft April night.
 
But the air was sweet with fresh April smells, 
And the voices of peepers like tiny, gold bells, 
Made vibrant the night as she skirted the pond, 
And searched for the path she knew lay beyond.
 
She got tangled awhile in briar and bush,
And bogged in a swamp where the grasses grew lush, 
But she would save all the people from suffering harm, 
So onward she struggled to spread the alarm.
 
Out of the forest, over hill and through vale,
She raced to Mahopac by way of Carmel,
Then around to Farmer’s Mills and back she flew, 
Through Stormville to her home...her brave journey was through.
 
Now Yankees were men not easily ruled, 
By hearsay or panic they’d not be fooled, 
So some of them acted a little too slow, 
To pull on their boots and get ready to go.
 
“I’ve been roused to often for nothing,” one said,
“Why should I leave a good, warm bed?”
“Who is it now that’s raising a storm?”
“It’s the Colonel’s daughter Sibyl...she’s sounding the alarm.”
 
Forty miles through briars and swamps she has gone, 
“So get up and get out...we march at dawn,”
They pulled on their clothes and they got on their gear, 
Then joining their neighbors, gave Sibyl a cheer.
 
But she was too tired when she got back home,
To realize the worth of the deed she had done,
Four hundred men stood ready to fight,
Where Danbury lay charred in the dawn’s early light.
 
General Tryon woke in the bed of a Tory, 
Mission accomplished, but without any glory, 
‘Midst the chaos and ruin of that fateful night, 
His men all lay drunk; not ten fit to fight.
 
They had found the food for which they had come, 
Bacon, molasses, flour and rum,
The molasses ran sticky in every gutter,
They swizzled the rum; burned the bacon and butter.
 
That’s how it was, you all know the rest,
 ‘Ludington’s men were now at their best.
They fell on the Redcoats. The Redcoats retreated, 
Their pride in the dust and their plans defeated.
 
The Yankees harried their rear and then, 
Ludington proudly marched forth his men,
To join General Wooster and without pity or plea, 
They pushed all the Redcoats back to the sea.
 
In that year of seventeen seventy-seven,
The people rejoiced and they all thanked heaven, 
That the land lay secure in the soft summer light, 
And that Sibyl Ludington had ridden that night.

———————————————

Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.TomandRodna.com/MoscowCares
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
“A stranger is just a friend you haven't met.” - Roy E. Stolworthy


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