After the burning of Danbury, on April 26, 1777, Gen. Tryon's force, harassed by the gathering militia, retreated to Ridgebury, in the north section of Ridgefield. Part of the British troops marched through Ridgebury Street, and part by the old Bogus road, now a wood road, cutting across country farther east. Near the cemetary at Ridgebury is the Ensign Samuel Keeler Tavern, built in 1730, a stopping place for Washington in 1780. One of the main roads from Boston to New York turned south at this point. Rochambeau also had headquarters at the Tavern; the French troop were encamped just east of here in 1781. A quarter of a mile north is the house built by Capt. Nehemiah Keeler in 1735.
As we go south, the Issac Keeler grist mill, burned by the British, stood at the outlet of Lake Mamanasco. Here R. 33 turns west to North Salem, N. Y., .....A little beyond this point, Gen. David Wooster, with a force of 200 men, made a dashing attack on the British rearguard, capturing 40 prisoners. .....Beyond this turn is the place where a second charge was made by the American troops, and Wooster fell mortally wounded. A tablet on the west side of the highway marks the spot, which has been made into a roadside park.
The British were obliged to force a barricade erected by the patriots, a little south of the junction with R. 35 from Danbury. A marker in the stonewall on the east side of the highway indicates the burial place of 8 Americans and 11 British who died in this engagement. The old Abner Gilbert House (Stebbins House) is still standing here. Fighting kept up along Ridgefield Street throughout the day. Gen. Benedict Arnold, who had succeeded Gen. Wooster in command, had his house struck by nine bullets, in an engagement with a British flanking party, but escaped uninjured.
....On the west side, at the junction of Rt. 33 and Rt. 35A, is the charming old Keeler Tavern, built by Timothy Keeler in 1760. A Revolutionary cannon ball, embedded in the frame at the northeast corner, may still be seen by raising a sliding shingle.
...Here, on April 27, 1777, was fought the stirring battle of Ridgefield, in which the militia, reinforced by farmers of the neighborhood, attempted to halt Tryon's retreating British troops after their raid on Danbury.
On Main St., a tablet in the wall indicates the site of the barricade hastily erected by the 500 men under General Benedict Arnold. Here General Wooster received a mortal wound and was carried back to Danbury where he died. Just beyond, another tablet, commemorating the battle reads in part:
Embedded in the walls of the Timothy Keeler Tavern, 25 Main St., is a round shot, fired during the battle of Ridgefield.