Lecture on the 1777 Danbury Raid and The Battle of Ridgefield

Historian Edward Hynes will present a lecture on the 1777 British invasion
of Connecticut that included the raid on Danbury and the Battle of Ridgefield on Sunday, February
9 at 4:00 pm in the Darien Historical Society’s Scofield Barn,
located at 45 Old Kings Highway North in Darien. A reception underwritten by Janet and Bruce Sargent will follow Mr.
Hynes’ presentation in the Society’s Library.

The lecture and reception are
free for members of Darien Historical and a $5 donation is suggested for
non-members.

Ed Hynes’
presentation begins with the spring of 1777 in New York City, where the Royal
Governor of the Province, Major General William Tryon, was not a happy
man.  In 1775 and 1776, the British had
been mauled and forced to flee Boston and their commander, General Thomas Gage,
had been sent home in disgrace.  In the
summer and fall of 1776, British forces under Admiral Sir Richard Howe and General
William Howe defeated General George Washington in the Battle of Brooklyn but
somehow had failed to “close the deal,” allowing Washington to escape and
humiliate the Hessians in Trenton.  This
“rabble uprising” was clearly getting out of hand.

Tryon, who had previously put down
significant colonial unrest as governor of North Carolina, was a man of
action.  The rebels had supplies and lots
of tents in Danbury, Connecticut, a colony with known loyalist sympathy.  He would lead a raid and seize what he needed
but was determined not to repeat the mistakes of the Lexington and Concord
Raid.  He demanded detailed military
planning, 1,500 experienced troops, diversionary actions against Peekskill and
most important, to be guided by the 300 man Royal and Honorary Prince of Wales
Loyal American Volunteers, largely raised in Fairfield County.  

On April 25, 1777, Tryon’s forces landed on
what is now Westport’s Compo Beach. As the British marched to Danbury the
Patriots mustered their forces under the command of Major Gen. David Wooster
and Brigadier Generals Benedict Arnold and Gold Selleck Silliman.  What happens next to the British on their
four-day raid and to the Patriots in their attempt to deny them safe return to
their ships is a white-knuckle story of the men fighting for their lives and
their countries.

Ed Hynes
first became interested in the Danbury Raid as a child when he learned that his
neighbor’s house was partially burned by the British during the raid. He grew
up in Wilton where he played football and lacrosse for the high school, graduated
from George Washington University and spent most of his career in financial
services as an equity analyst, institutional salesperson and trader. Ed
presently works a Financial Advisor with Merrill Lynch in Westport and lives in
Norwalk. He and his wife are active in a number of community and civic
organizations, including over 30 years of service to the National Dance
Institute, the award winning arts education program founded by ballet legend
Jacques d’Amboise, where Ed currently serves on its Board.