Colonel Henry Ludington: A Memoir

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

These are, therefore, with all due deference and respect, to desire and request you, as the representative body of this State, forthwith to proceed upon, and before the close of the present Session, effectually form and accomplish a Law for the confiscation and sale of the Real and personal property of the Enemies of this State, in such way and manner as may be for the good of the people at Large, and we Doubt not, in the Completion of so important an Act, but you will readily forego every private Conveniency to yourselves and particular families.

We have with surprise and concern understood that several members of your honorable Houses are impatient to close the Session, on account of their Domestic concerns. We would humbly beg leave to remind such gentlemen that, however pressing their private affairs may be, the publick Demands ought to be first attended to, as in them the Interest of every Individual is devolved; and in particular this Act ought by no means to be postponed. The publick Debts, the alarming Depreciation of our paper money, are pressing, and will admit of no delay. The present and not the future is in your power, and were it necessary to use arguments on this subject to patriots, it would be easy to show that the delay of this Act to another Session is big with uncertainty of its passing at all, and therefore of the most dangerous consequences to this State. Especially as it will occasion universal uneasiness and in all probability produce Tumults and insurrections, and tend to a Domestic Tyranny and confusion as much to be dreaded as the evils brought upon us by our connections with Great Britain, the Effects of which we thus wofully experience. Tho’ thro’ the smiles of Heaven upon our past endeavors, we are now arrived within view of our native inheritance, the promised Land of peace and freedom, to which we look with longing Eyes. But our unremited exertions are still necessary to bring us to the Haven of rest. Else all our past Labors may still prove in vain, all our fair prospects be darkened by Intervening Clouds, that may drive us again upon a tempestuous sea of trouble till we are overwhelmed and Lost. To prevent this we and all your Constituents look up with Anxious Expectations to you, on whom is devolved the care of the State Vessel, and on whom we depend to pilot it into a port of safety; and we trust your vigilance and unwearied application to the important Duties of your Station will be continued till the great End is Obtained, for which as in Duty bound we shall ever pray, &c.

Poughkeepsie, October 22nd, 1778.

It was inevitable that his activity and zeal in promoting and executing such measures should make Colonel Ludington an object of especial antipathy to the local Tories and also to the British authorities in New York. He was regarded by them as one of the chief obstacles to the raising of troops and the securing of supplies for the British Army in the border region. Accordingly the strongest efforts were made to get rid of him, either by death or capture. On more than one occasion he was shot at by hidden marksmen by the wayside and narrowly escaped being killed. The British authorities offered a reward of three hundred guineas for his person, and more than one of his disaffected neighbors sought to win that prize. Much of the time his house was guarded by a detachment of his regiment, but often for days and weeks when he was at home his only sentinels were his two older daughters, Sibyl and Rebecca. These children would sit for hours, armed with heavy muskets, at the upper windows, behind casks on the piazza, or in a neighboring cornfield, watching for the approach of suspicious or openly hostile characters and ready to give their father warning. One night they espied a number of moving figures, lurking behind trees and fences, and at once waked their father with the warning that Tories were surrounding the house. Colonel Ludington, having no aid at hand sufficient to offer defense, resorted to a ruse. He hurriedly aroused the inmates and distributed them through all the rooms, each with a musket and a lighted candle. The general illumination of the building, the signs of commotion, and the shadows of moving and armed figures on every window blind, persuaded the Tories that a company of soldiers was in the house. They therefore feared to make the attack which they had intended, but contented themselves with yelling and hooting in the adjoining woods until day began to break, when they retired down the road to the southward, through the little settlement which then occupied the present site of the village of Carmel.

The next day Colonel Ludington ascertained that his nocturnal visitors were Tories from Quaker Hill and Pawling, under the leadership of Dr. Prosser, who has already been mentioned in this narrative, and were about forty in number. Prosser was a neighbor of Colonel Ludington’s, but was also his bitter enemy, and was one of the most virulent Tories in all that region. He was that night leading his company down to New York to join the British Army, and had planned to kill or capture Colonel Ludington and thus secure the reward of three hundred guineas which General Howe had offered. After the war Prosser returned to Dutchess County to live, thinking his Toryism would be forgotten or condoned. But Colonel Ludington had not forgotten nor forgiven his midnight attempt at murder or capture. One day the two men met on the highway at Patterson, both being on horseback. As soon as Prosser caught sight of the man whom he had tried to “remove,” he turned and attempted to avoid him. But Colonel Ludington and his horse were too quick for him. Overtaking him the Colonel belabored him with a heavy rawhide whip and gave him a most thorough flogging, which of course Prosser could not venture to resent by legal means.

On another occasion during the war two gentlemen and their servants, strangers, stopped at Colonel Ludington’s house and asked for entertainment for the night. They were received with some misgivings as to their loyalty. Some time after they had retired the watching members of the family perceived that the house was surrounded by armed men. Suspecting that the strangers were in league with the besiegers, they went to their room, roused them, and at the muzzles of muskets demanded to know who they were and what was their business. The strangers managed to assure them that they were friends, and thereupon joined the family in lighting up the house and giving it the appearance of a well-garrisoned stronghold. As on the former occasion the ruse was effective and the attacking party withdrew.

Colonel Ludington’s activities and also his difficulties in raising troops for various purposes are suggested in some of his correspondence with Governor Clinton:

I would inform your Excelency that I have proceeded to Raise the Companey aloted me to Raise as my Quota and Expect them to march on Munday next; in Regard of officering the Companey I have Been obliged to Borow a point, and thought it my Duty to acquaint his Excelency in that manner; the man apointed as Capt. Did not Belong to the militia—who is Capt. Elijah Tounsand the Barer—But has Been the most of the time in Service Since the war Began and has Been Captain with me in the 3 months Service at the Plains and I Conceive him to Be more Suitable to Command a companey than one of the militia Captains; would therefore take it as a favour if you would give him his Comision; the 1 Lieut. is John Berrey, a militia officer; the 2 Lieut. is Mr. William McTine a young man who formerly Lived at the White Plains and now has moved among us, has never Born a commision in the militia, But is Lookt upon to Be a proper person for it, as he is a man well acquainted with the part of the Country where he is going and very Capable of performing the office. Sir I hope it will Be agreable to his Excelency to grant Commisions to the above mentioned persons and in So doing you will mutch oblige your Humble Servant

Henry Ludinton.

Fredricksburgh May 1d 1778.