Sybil Ludington, who rode double the length of Paul Revere at only 16 years old to alert Americans that the British were coming. She was personally thanked by George Washington for her service.
On the night of April 26, 1777, Colonel Henry Ludington, father of 12, veteran of the French-Indian War, and commander of the militia in Duchess County, New York, (just across the state line from Danbury, Connecticut) received a messenger to his house. The British had entered Danbury and found some American military stores, stolen some, destroyed others and drank the whiskey. Drunk, they began ransacking the town, burning and looting.
Col. Ludington’s militia, some 400 men, was on furlough. Whether the colonel asked his oldest daughter or the 16-year-old bravely volunteered is unknown, but around 9 p.m., she set off in the rain to warn the men.
She completed her mission around daybreak, covering nearly 40 miles—more than twice what Paul Revere had ridden—raising 400 men, and even fighting off a highway man with her father’s musket.