Editing Redding, Connecticut (section)

===Revolutionary War and Continental Army encampment===

In the years preceding the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], tensions escalated in Redding between [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Tory loyalists]] and larger numbers of those supporting the resolutions of the [[Continental Congress]], with some Tories fleeing to escape retribution.<ref name=Brainard1904 /> Some 100 Redding men volunteered to serve under Captain Zalmon Read in a company of the new [[5th Connecticut Regiment]], which participated in the siege of Quebec's [[Fort Saint-Jean (Quebec)|Fort Saint-Jean]] during the autumn of 1775 before the volunteers' terms of service expired in late November.<ref name=Brainard1904 />

In 1777, the Continental Congress created a new [[Continental Army]] with enlistments lasting three years. The 5th Connecticut Regiment was reformed, enlisting some men from Redding, and assigned to guard military stores in [[Danbury, Connecticut]].<ref name=Brainard1904 /> Getting word of the depot, the British dispatched a force of some 2,000 soldiers to destroy the stores, landing April 26 at present-day [[Westport, Connecticut|Westport]] and undertaking a 23-mile march north. The column halted on Redding Ridge for a two-hour respite, with many residents having fled to a wooded, rocky area dubbed the [[Devil's Den Preserve|Devil's Den]]. The British column resumed its march to Danbury where soldiers destroyed the supplies, then skirmished Continental Army and militia forces in Ridgefield while on the return march south.<ref>{{cite web | last=Prince | first=Cathryn J. | title=Taking to Devil's Den | website=Journal of the American Revolution | date=July 11, 2013 | url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/07/taking-to-devils-den/ | access-date=August 14, 2019}}</ref>

For the winter of 1778–1779, General [[George Washington]] decided to split the Continental Army into three divisions encircling [[New York City]], where British General Sir [[Henry Clinton (American War of Independence)|Henry Clinton]] had taken up winter quarters.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Poirier|first1=David A.|year=1976|title=Camp Reading: Logistics of a Revolutionary War Winter Encampment|url=https://orb.binghamton.edu/neha/vol5/iss1/5/|journal=Northeast Historical Archaeology|volume=5|issue=1|pages=40–52|doi=10.22191/neha/vol5/iss1/5|issn=0048-0738|doi-access=free}}</ref> Major General [[Israel Putnam]] chose Redding as the winter encampment quarters for some 3,000 regulars and militia under his command, at the site of the present-day [[Putnam Memorial State Park]] and nearby areas. The Redding encampment allowed Putnam's soldiers to guard the replenished supply depot in Danbury and support any operations along Long Island Sound and the [[Hudson River]] Valley.<ref>{{cite web | title=Park History | website=Putnam Memorial State Park | date=March 20, 2015 | url=https://www.putnampark.org/park-history/ | access-date=August 14, 2019}}</ref> Some of the men were veterans of the winter encampment at [[Valley Forge]], [[Pennsylvania]] the previous winter. Soldiers at the Redding camp endured supply shortages, cold temperatures and significant snow, with some historians dubbing the encampment "Connecticut's Valley Forge."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=James M.|last2=Pryslopski|first2=Christopher|last3=Villani|first3=Andrew|title=Key to the Northern Country: The Hudson River Valley in the American Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NfADAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA241|date=August 1, 2013|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-1-4384-4814-5|page=241}}</ref>