American Revolutionary War Patriot. Sybil Ludington was a typical sixteen-year-old girl living in the American Colony of New York in 1777. According to the legend, she was putting the younger children to bed on the night of April 26, 1777, when word reached her house that 2,000 British soldiers were burning the town of Danbury, Connecticut, which was only 25 miles away. Her father, Henry Ludington, was a colonel in the local colonial militia. His men were scattered over a wide area around the Ludington house in the community of Fredericksburg, which is now the city of Ludington. She convinced her father to let her ride and summon the men. She rode on horseback over 40 miles on dark, unmarked roads to spread the alert. Her course took her down through Carmel, on to Mahopac, and around to Kent Cliffs and Farmers Mills and back home. She rode alone with only a stick to prod her horse, Star, and to use to knock on the doors spreading the alert in time. The men, whom she helped to gather, arrived just in time to help drive the British, under the command of General William Tryon, who was also Colonial Governor of New York, back to their ships in Long Island Sound. In this day and age a sixteen-year-old girl alone on a darkened road was not safe. Her contribution to the war was not forgotten, as present-day visitors to Putnam County, New York can trace her path on that midnight ride by following markers placed along the route, and view a statue of her erected in 1961 on Route 52 beside Gleneida Lake in Carmel on the route.Compared to Paul Revere's famous ride, she rode twice as far, through dirt roads and in the pitch blackness alone, whereas Revere was older, had others to help him, yet his ride is well-documented. Although Sybil Ludington has been honored with a United States postage stamp in the “Contribution to the Cause” collection, not every historian recognizes her contribution to American history: Since no solid documentation has been found that proves the authenticity of Sybil Ludington's ride, she was included in an exhibition, which was displayed from October 6, 2006 to March 31, 2007 at the National Daughters of the American Revolution Museum Exhibition, “Myth or Truth? Stories We’ve Heard about Early America.” A 35-page detailed report with sources sited in the “New England Quarterly” of June of 2015 states that there is no evidence that the ride occurred and that New York militia were not victorious in reaching Danbury in time to prevent the British from destroying military provisions. An article in the “Smithsonian Magazine," April of 2017 states nothing can be found in print of Ludington's ride prior to 1880 and one of the earliest was privately published in the 20th century by descendants. Even if Ludington did or did not make her famous ride, she has become part of American history.