Dr. Darla Shaw portrays Abigail Ingersoll Olmstead, who allegedly waved her red petticoat from the window of her home to signal to the British that the house sided with the crown likely saving it (and her children hidden inside) from harm. The problem was her husband Captain David Olmstead was a die-hard patriot. After the Battle, and as recounted in Silvio Bedini’s book “Ridgefield in Review,” legend has it that “Livid with rage, Captain Olmstead thundered: ‘Woman, if I had seen you, I would have shot you dead!’ Far better it would have been to have this home destroyed than to have his wife suspected of being a Tory.”
