Revisiting the Battle of Ridgefield

 “On the 27th in the morning the troops quitted Danbury, and met with little opposition until they came near to Ridgefield, which was occupied by Gen. Arnold.”

— General William Howe

James Sharp's "A Skirmish
in America" (1780).

It’s summertime, which means I give myself a little indulgence to miss a week’s posting or two, or three (as evidenced by my blog archive in the sidebar). Sometimes I just need time to recharge, as many of us do in the summer months. Other times we’re so busy with various activities I don’t have time for thoughtful reflection and writing about adventure game hobby issues. Yet I still manage to find some inspiration, whether through rest or exploration, I can channel into Hobby Games Recce. We recently returned from a trip visiting family and friends in New England, including a stop at my favorite independent bookshop, Books on the Common in Ridgefield, CT, where I picked up the most recent book about my hometown’s RevolutionaryWar battle; inspiration for my wargaming exploration of this small yet influential engagement.

The battle seems small compared to the other more famous engagements from America’s War of Independence. A British and Loyalist force from New York landed in Connecticut on Long Island Sound, marched north to burn the Continental Army stores at Danbury, then returned to the coast by a different route that led through Ridgefield. Militia gathered to respond to the invasion, assembling at a barricade in Ridgefield under the command of then-Patriot General Benedict Arnold to oppose the British return to their ships. Connecticut at that time was on the fence about supporting the rebellious American colonists or the established British government; the incursion and destruction pushed the state firmly into solid support for the American Patriots. It’s the only significant military action in the state of Connecticut.

Cannon ball lodged in
corner post in Keeler Tavern.

I’ve known about the Battle of Ridgefield since we learned about it in elementary school. I’ve passed the site of the engagement, and other landmarks associated with it, more times that I could ever remember: past the site where the British mortally wounded General David Wooster, the stone marker to the fallen set in a stone wall near the barricade; the Keeler Tavern, which retains a British cannonball stick in a beam. Over the years I’ve attended a few reenactments, from simple living history encampments to the full-on battle at the actual site. As my gaming activities involved me in wargaming I’ve sought ways to replay the battle on the game table, sometimes using miniatures, other times trying to transpose the action onto a game board. I even drafted an article about gaming the battle for a wargaming newsletter I once foolishly volunteered to co-edit (a folly an author once described as “Twice as much work for half as much pay,” worse still as a volunteer); it didn’t reach publication, so perhaps I should revisit and revise it for release in my own venue.

While those with a cursory interest in the engagement rely on popular historical tales surrounding the event, more recent scholarship examines the battle and the supporting context in greater detail. Keith Marshall Jones III wrote the first definitive look at the battle in 2002, Farmers Against the Crown. I’ve used it in my own endeavors extracting details relevant to wargaming simulations of the battle using various rules. I was quite pleased to find Jones’ latest work, The Battle of Ridgefield, prominently displayed on the “Local History” shelves at Books on the Common during my most recent visit. Despite our family’s cut in discretionary spending due to economic instability on several fronts, I splurged and bought a copy (despite the temptation to buy a few other books about Ridgefield by Jack Sanders, my boss during my brief time working as a reporter and editor at The Ridgefield Press). This latest work about the battle promises to provide greater context and new information bolstered by more recent research during the past two decades since Farmers Against the Crown released. I’m looking forward to reading it with an eye toward developing my own wargaming interpretations of the battle.

I’ve dabbled with adapting the Battle of Ridgefield to both board and miniature wargames. My earliest efforts tried using concepts from James F. Dunnagin’s Drive on Metz sample game from his Complete Wargames Handbook. That effort didn’t go very far, though it forced me to closely examine details of the battle; I’m tempted to revisit that project. I’ve fought the battle a few times fielding Peter Dennis’ excellent Peter’s Paperboys miniatures for the period, with various rules including Bob Cordery’s The Portable Wargame. I’m interested to read Jones’ latest research on the battle to see how it compares with his earlier publication and my own impressions on the engagement, units involved, tactics, and results. Briefly flipping through his latest book I’m intrigued by the context before and after the battle, especially the militia response. The larger, non-battle subject might serve as a central theme of a solo or cooperative “pre-battle” game about mustering militia in response to the British incursion into Connecticut.

I realize my current project — creating a quick-play intro game on the Battle of Great Bridge in Virginia — takes a similar approach to research, analysis, and simulation implementation. Examining the battlefield. Determining opposing forces and strengths. Using rules to govern movement and interaction. Both engagements contain some similarities that play out differently: militia forces assembled to oppose a British incursion, the British approach along an established road toward Patriot defensive works, the effectiveness of forces in the battlefield environment. While these games help players understand how elements interact, they do not provide much contact before and after. These remain topics for research and discussion to enhance the game experience and broaden our understanding of these episodes in history. As much as I’m looking forward to reading new information about the Battle of Ridgefield itself, I’m excited to explore the issues leading up to it and the ramifications it had for Connecticut and the Revolution.

“Arnold escaped very narrowly with the loss of his horse, which was killed. Everybody said he behaved that day with uncommon resolution as to personal bravery, but did not give him much credit for his judgment as a general”

—British Captain G. Hutchinson