American Revolution: General David Wooster

EXPEDITION OF WOOSTER - TURNING-POINT OF WAR
Ridgebury Road Scene of Ambush of British

There is an essentially important fact about General David Wooster and the battle and fire of Danbury which every historian has overlooked in the various school text books. This is that the turning point of the great war in which our forefathers won their liberty was at Danbury.


Tradition says that the British were stationed on their war ships in Long Island Sound. Proceeding from the direction of New York they sailed to Compo Beach in the town of Westport in 1777 and proceeded through Bethel to Danbury which they thoroughly ransacked and burned. News of the landing of the British fleet reached General Wooster at New Haven. He immediately set out for Danbury in pursuit of General Tryon, the commander of the British forces. He marched as far as Bethel where he camped for the night. In the meantime Tryon had destroyed the stores in Danbury and after the burning of the town started back for Compo by way of the present site of the Wooster School. British forces were pursued by Wooster along the Ridgebury Road.


The British were soon on their way after having utterly destroyed another beautiful New England town and went on toward Ridgefield. On this back road the British were waylaid by Wooster and completely routed.

The New England Colonies took heart and banded together to such an extent that they were able to defeat the British at every point. From this stage, the armies under Howe were defeated and then came the point in the war where the colonists took the upper hand and were finally victorious.