The Ridgefield Historical Society is pleased to present Keith Marshall Jones III’s new book, THE BATTLE OF RIDGEFIELD, which Connecticut State Historian Emeritus Dr. Walter Woodward calls “the definitive account of the Battle of Ridgefield for many years to come.”
Mr. Jones, the Founding President of the Ridgefield Historical Society and author of Farmers Against the Crown (2002), has added a great deal of new information and understanding to the story of inland Connecticut’s largest Revolutionary War engagement, the April 27, 1777, Battle of Ridgefield. The book will initially be available exclusively through the Ridgefield Historical Society.
The 320-page illustrated and indexed paperback is priced at $35.95 and sales of these books benefit the Ridgefield Historical Society. Books are now available to purchase on site at the Historical Society at 4 Sunset Lane during open hours (Tue, Wed, and Thur, 1-5pm) or other times by appointment. Books can also be shipped to you for an additional $7, for a total of $42.95 each. Place your order using the form at the bottom of this page. If you’d like more than one copy mailed to you please call the Ridgefield Historical Society (203-438-5821) before placing your order.
– Royal Governor of New York William Tryon had good reason to expect that Southwestern Connecticut loyalists might rise-up if he marched an army inland to destroy Danbury’s Continental supply depot.
– General George Washington was warned twice in advance of Tryon’s potential incursion and would not, or could not, act.
– The bloody, day-long running Ridgefield battle involved more Redcoats than at Lexington and Concord, or in Washington’s startling victories at Trenton and Princeton. Combined casualties and missing – up to 120 men – were higher than previously thought.
– American militia Major General David Wooster’s son Thomas – contrary to several prominent historians – was not killed alongside his father at Ridgefield; he was not even there!
– Only about half the Fairfield County militia turned out, but, together with nine unsung New York militia companies, it was enough to quash Tryon’s loyalist vision and chase his British army from Connecticut.
– Though a clear British victory, Ridgefield’s consequences – the ascendance of Benedict Arnold, freeing up local militia units to participate at Saratoga, and tightened screw on Connecticut loyalists – created conditions that helped assure Britain would lose the war.
Keith Marshall Jones III, Founding President of the Ridgefield Historical Society, is author of JOHN LAURANCE, the Immigrant Founding Father America Never Knew (awarded the American Philosophical Society’s 2019 “Publication of the Year”). Other books include: CONGRESS AS MY GOVERNMENT, Chief Justice John Marshall in the War for Independence (2008); Farmers Against the Crown (2002); and The Farms of Farmingville (2001). He lives in New York City and Tucson, Arizona.
For more information contact the Ridgefield Historical Society at [email protected] or call 203-438-5821.
