Ridgefield, Battle of

The Battle of Ridgefield was a battle and a series of skirmishes between American and British forces during the American Revolutionary War. The main battle was fought in the village of Ridgefield, Connecticut on April 27, 1777 and more skirmishing occurred the next day between Ridgefield and the coastline near modern Westport, Connecticut.

On April 25, 1777 a British force under the command of the Royal Governor of the Province of New York, Major General William Tryon landed between Fairfield and Norwalk (in what is now Westport), and marched from there to Danbury. There they destroyed Continental Army supplies after chasing off a small garrison of troops. When word of the British troop movements spread, Connecticut militia leaders sprang into action. Major General David Wooster, Brigadier General Gold S. Silliman, and Brigadier General Benedict Arnold raised a combined force of roughly 700 Continental Army regular and irregular local militia forces to oppose the British, but could not reach Danbury in time to prevent the destruction of the supplies. Instead, they set out to harass the British on their return to the coast.

The company led by General Wooster twice attacks Tryon's rear guard during their march south on April 27.

In the second encounter, Wooster is mortally wounded; he will die five days later.

The main encounter now takes place at Ridgefield, where several hundred militia under Arnold's command confront the British and are driven away in a running battle down the town's main street, but not before inflicting casualties on the British.

Additional militia forces arrive, and the next day they continue  to harass the British as they return  to Compo Beach (in modern-day Westport), where the fleet awaits them.

Arnold regroups the militia and some artillery to make a stand against the British near their landing site, but his position is flanked and his force scattered by artillery fire and a bayonet charge.

The expedition is a tactical success for the British forces, but their actions in pursuing the raid galvanize Patriot support in Connecticut.

While the British again make raids on Connecticut's coastal communities (including a second raiding expedition by Tryon in 1779 and a 1781 raid led by Arnold after his defection to the British side), they make no more raids that penetrate far into the countryside.

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