20 Facts About Sybil Ludington

Sybil Ludington was an alleged heroine of the American Revolutionary War, though modern scholars dispute this.

Accounts of Sybil Ludington's ride are based on a brief mention in 1907 memoirs about her father, published privately by his grandchildren.

Relatively unknown through the 1870s, Sybil Ludington became widely recognized around the time of World War II, after historic roadmarkers were placed in locations she was speculated to have visited on her ride.

Sybil Ludington was honored on a United States Bicentennial postage stamp that was released on March 25,1975, which depicts her on a horse.

Sybil Ludington was the first of 12 children of Abigail and Henry Ludington, a gristmill owner.

At the age of 23, in 1784 Sybil Ludington married Edmond Ogden.

Sybil Ludington lived in Unadilla until her death on February 26,1839, at the age of 77.

Sybil Ludington was buried near her father in the Patterson Presbyterian Cemetery in Patterson, New York.

Accounts originating from the Ludington family say Sybil played an important role during the British raid on Danbury.

Sybil Ludington was included in an 1880 book about the New York City area by local historian Martha Lamb.

Tucker states that letters written by Sybil Ludington herself do not mention the ride.

In 1838, Sybil Ludington asked for a pension based on her husband, Ogden, having fought in the Revolutionary War, but she could not prove that she was married to him.

Sybil Ludington cites no sources, nor provides documentation of the ride.

Sybil Ludington writes that neither of the original publications about the ride "had offered any information about Sybil's course", and the purported route was devised speculatively by the project managers who later installed historic markers, a "relatively inexpensive but increasingly popular means for states and localities to promote tourism".

Hunt has provided a history of how the Sybil Ludington story has been portrayed in the media and literature, and in efforts to promote tourism.

Pollak wrote in 1975 in the New York Times that "Many children's books treat the account as historical fact", although the Putnam County Historian indicated there was "no solid evidence that Sybil Ludington actually made the ride".

Hunt states that the two accounts of Sybil Ludington's ride were not mentioned in any other significant history produced in the same era, and that even as stories of heroic women of the colonial era proliferated by the 1870s, the only published accounts of Sybil Ludington were Lamb's and Johnson's.

Sybil Ludington's ride embraces the mythical meanings and values expressed in the country's founding.

In 1975, Sybil Ludington was honored with a postage stamp in the "Contributors to the Cause" United States Bicentennial series.

In 2014, Sybil Ludington was featured on the American Heroes Channel documentary American Revolution: Patriots Rising.