New study reveals greater significance of 1777 Battle of Ridgefield

Recent archaeological surveys led by the Ridgefield Historical Society have advanced the history of the town’s 1777 Revolutionary War battle in several key ways. It is now clear that the Second Engagement in the Battle that took place as the British marched toward Main Street was more fierce than previously believed due to a British ambush that stunned the Patriots. In addition, artifacts discovered on the south end of Main Street provide evidence that the retreating Patriots made a concerted attempt to rally against the British forces. Also found there were Continental Army buttons that provide the earliest archival evidence of symbols of the republic being worn by the new nation’s soldiers.

Ridgefield and the Ridgefield Historical Society were galvanized to do the surveys following the chance discovery in 2019 of skeletal remains in the basement of a 1790 house on Main Street near the site of the Battle’s principal engagement.

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The Connecticut Office of State Archaeology began forensic analysis of four sets of remains and while the work continues, those buried are known to be adult male individuals, buried in a communal grave. Circumstantial evidence strongly suggests they were involved in the Battle.

That discovery provided a visceral reminder that Ridgefield played an important role in our nation’s struggle against the Crown and suggested that evidence of the battle might be preserved throughout the town. The Historical Society applied to the National Park Service for and received two American Battlefield Protection Program Grants to investigate the Battle, which have been conducted in partnership with the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office (CT-SHPO), Heritage Consultants, LLC (Heritage) and faculty at the University of Connecticut (UCONN). This year, Preservation Connecticut, a non-profit organization that promotes, preserves and protects historic places, gave an Award of Merit to the Ridgefield Historical Society in recognition of its “Battle of Ridgefield Documentation and Engagement Project.”

The most recent work, involving metal detection, ground penetrating radar and shovel test pits, has unearthed artifacts recovered from what are now judged to be four engagements between American and British forces. Non-invasive ground penetrating radar (GPR) analyses near the location of previously identified burials also identified seven additional possible burials.

On April 25, 1777, a British force of 1,500 soldiers under the command of Major General William Tryon landed near Westport. Joined by 300 Loyalist soldiers from surrounding towns, including Ridgefield, the British marched approximately 20 miles inland and destroyed key Continental Army supplies warehoused in Danbury. As word of the British presence spread throughout the local countryside, a force of 700 American Continental regulars and militia were mobilized under the command of Major General David Wooster, Brigadier General Gold Selleck Silliman, and Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. Their mission was to intercept and engage the British as they retreated to their ships in Long Island Sound.

The Battle began with two moving skirmishes (the First and Second Engagements) between General Wooster’s force of 200 soldiers and the British rear guard. The fierce Second Engagement, now believed to involve a surprise assault by the British, scattered Wooster’s men and left him mortally wounded.

At the newly-discovered site of the Second Engagement, archaeologists determined that nearly all the British musket fire is represented by impacted musket balls, while most of the recovered American musket fire is unimpacted and probably dropped during the fighting.

This artifact pattern reflects the shock experienced by the Patriot forces who were caught off guard when the British used the protection of a hillside to mass, turn, and engage them. The struggle appears to have involved intense hand-to-hand fighting as exemplified by the twisted butt of an American-made musket, the many plain buttons of the Patriots, and French-made musket pieces recovered from the area.

Wooster’s main goal had been to delay the British forces so Generals Silliman and Arnold could erect a barricade along Main Street and confront Tryon’s army. Wooster’s forces bought enough time to establish the barricade at a choke point on Main Street, where the Patriots and British fought the principal “Third Engagement” of the Battle. The heavily outnumbered Patriot forces broke after about thirty minutes, with Arnold purportedly the last to leave the field.

The British then chased the American forces through the town center, fighting several additional skirmishes known as the “Fourth Engagement.” Artifacts from that engagement offer new evidence that the Patriots did attempt to regroup. Previous historical accounts indicated only sporadic fire as the British advanced through the town, but impacted British and Patriot musket balls, as well as dropped “buck and ball” American ammunition, indicate more serious fighting.

Three pewter buttons stamped with the monogram “USA” and indicating the presence of Continental Army enlisted men in the engagement were also recovered in this area. They also represent the earliest evidence to date of the Patriot leadership’s decision that militia groups would no longer present themselves as military units from various “home” colonies. The insignias declared that the Army was the fighting force of one nation just ten months old, the United States of America.

The Ridgefield Historical Society is currently raising funds to produce a one-hour documentary about both the archaeological survey and the forensic analyses of the Main Street remains. It has produced a short video to give potential donors a sense of what the finished documentary will look like. Here is a link to the video.

https://f.io/S68d4SkF

And here is the link to the documentary GoFundMe page:

https://gofund.me/ecba01a73