Battle of Ridgefield: Difference between revisions

|commander1=[[Image:US flag 13 stars – Betsy Ross.svg|24px]] [[David Wooster]] †<br> [[Image:US flag 13 stars – Betsy Ross.svg|24px]] [[Gold Selleck Silliman|Gold S. Silliman]] <br> [[Image:US flag 13 stars – Betsy Ross.svg|24px]] [[Benedict Arnold]] <br> [[Image:US flag 13 stars – Betsy Ross.svg|24px]] [[John Lamb (general)|John Lamb]] <br> [[Image:US flag 13 stars – Betsy Ross.svg|24px]] [[Jedediah Huntington]] <br> [[Image:US flag 13 stars – Betsy Ross.svg|24px]] [[Henry Ludington]]

After encamping for the night just south of the village, the British forces departed the next morning, leaving six houses and the Episcopal Church (a Patriot supply depot and field hospital) in flames. General Tryon's forces attempted a quick return to the invasion fleet at Compo Beach having reached near exhaustion and militia now swarming around their vulnerable position. Determined to even the score with the British, Arnold once more rounded up the militia. Artillery reinforcements under Colonel [[John Lamb (general)|John Lamb]] of New York and further militia under Colonel [[Jedediah Huntington]] of Connecticut and Colonel [[Henry Ludington]] of New York joined himArnold. The [[April 28]] retreat proved to be costly for Tryon, comparable to a smaller scale retreat from Concord to Boston in 1775. From behind convenient stone walls, trees, and buildings the militia fired continually at the British marching on the road heading South to Compo Beach. Arnold stationed his forces so that they commanded both roads by which Tryon might try to gain the safety of the invasion fleet's ships. The exhausted British were now outnumbered and vulnerable to capture, but reinforcements of marines from the fleet prevented a devastating American attack. Arnold rode attempting to rally his men to repulse the marines and close in on Tryon during which time another horse was shot under him and a bullet ripped through his coat collar. Although Lamb's artillery also fought valiantly, the bulk of the American forces fled. In the confusion Tryon's men slipped aboard their ships. Final British casualties were approximately two hundred, including ten officers. The Americans lost about twenty killed and forty wounded.