In late 2019, contractors working on a 1790 house on Main Street in Ridgefield found human skeletal remains buried in a shallow communal grave. Physical evidence strongly connected them to the April 1777 Battle of Ridgefield. These include rare military buttons and lead musket balls that are changing long-held ideas about how the 1777 battle took place.
An accidental discovery beneath the floorboards of a Connecticut home during a basement renovation has led to important new findings about the American Revolutionary War. Later investigations by the Connecticut Office of State Archaeology identified the remains as adult men who had been buried without coffins. Years of additional excavation, metal detecting and forensic research, supported by National Park Service grants, have uncovered important military artifacts.
Before this discovery, historians generally believed Patriot soldiers in early 1777 were mainly part of separate colonial militias without standard uniforms or national symbols. Researchers from the University of Connecticut have also used ground-penetrating radar near the site of the original 2019 discovery.
The “USA” buttons suggest that American troops under Major General David Wooster and Brigadier General Benedict Arnold were already presenting themselves as one army representing a united nation, only ten months after the Declaration of Independence, according to research published by the Ridgefield Historical Society. The buttons were found in the southern part of town, along with dropped “buck and ball” ammunition. Among the most important finds from recent surveys by the Ridgefield Historical Society and Heritage Consultants, LLC were three pewter military buttons stamped with the initials “USA. Archaeologists say these buttons are the earliest physical evidence found so far of Continental Army enlisted soldiers wearing a common national insignia during the Revolutionary War. This type of ammunition was commonly associated with American forces and combined one large musket ball with several smaller pieces of lead shot. However, evidence from the southern part of town points to a more organized defense. Archaeologists found groups of fired and damaged lead shot from both sides. The pattern suggests that retreating Patriot soldiers repeatedly stopped, took defensive positions and fired directly at advancing British troops. The surveys identified seven additional areas that experts believe could contain more wartime burials. The Connecticut Office of State Archaeology is continuing DNA testing and chemical isotope analysis on the four original skeletons. The research aims to learn more about their geographic origins, diet and possible military connections.
Earlier accounts suggested that Patriot troops made a disorganized retreat after British forces broke through the main barricade on Main Street during the Third Engagement.
The Ridgefield Historical Society is also raising money for a documentary called The Battle of Ridgefield: A New Look at 250 . The historical society is continuing to catalogue artifacts recovered from all four known engagement areas as researchers prepare for the 250th anniversary of the battle in 2027. The research project, involving the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office, local historians and university researchers, recently received an Award of Merit from Preservation Connecticut for its documentation and community outreach work. The project is supported in part by a grant from Connecticut Humanities and will document the discoveries and continuing forensic research.