Katherine Gaylord a Mother in the American Revolution

I noticed this monument in the Milford St. Cemetery in Burlington Ct. and although I had heard her name I had never heard of the Wyoming Massacre.
Ever since reading about the events of 1778 and her heroic return home, I pass many homes along Rt 6 between Danbury and Bristol and wonder which she may have stopped for shelter. There are many fine renditions of her story that I can not hope to equal.
The area had been fought over by the Six Nations , Pennsylvania and Connecticut for many years and the residents were no strangers to warfare.
Katherine's husband had served at Bunker Hill in 1775 and was a Lieutenant in the Ct. militia. Most of the young men of the area were off serving in the Revolutionary War leaving about 300 mostly older men for defence. They ventured out without known the size of the force they would encounter. They entered a trap and were surrounded by over a 1000 Indians, British Rangers and Tories. One account says only 35 survived. Aaron Gaylord was not one of them.
Aaron had counseled his wife to prepare to flee if he did not return. She fled at midnight with her three children and two horses. She left behind a surrender that only lasted a few days before more death and destruction. She lost one horse the second day and traveled in fear of being captured for days. Travel was slow crossing streams and rivers finding shelter under their blanket or abandoned cabins. For a time she felt they were being stalked by a panther. They were befriended along the way by hunters soldiers and friendly Indians or going hungry for days.
Today that trip is 199 miles and according to google a three and a half hour car trip. Their original trip to Wyoming was about three weeks, hers back to her fathers home much longer I would guess.
One rendition written by Florence E.D. Muzzy is contained in [A History of Bristol or "New Cambridge"]. It is on Ancestry.com and at our local library.
Another shorter version(but longer than mine) is on the Burlington historian's site :
www.munic.state.ct.us/BURLINGTON/burlington_articles_of_the_past.pdf
It starts on pg 95.
I think Katherine's story is very compelling and reminds me of my childhood favorites "Drums along the Mohawk" and "The Last of the Mohegans"

More Pieces to the Barnes Puzzle

I must say the Barnes family can be Linked to many prominent early families of Connecticut. I found this on line the other day and it not only helped to fill in some dates I didn't have, but added to some stories that I had come across earlier.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~khokkanen/hall/ives.htm
Take time to read about William,John and Gideon Ives. Gideon's son Elanthan
(spelled at least 3 ways so far) married our Abigail Frisbie whom I've mentioned
earlier.

I have one story about Gideon, related in a History of Bristol, being a great hunter and came to the Bristol area (then known as the West Woods) often.

His hunting companion was Capt. Jesse Gaylord (another name of our area) They were being stalked by an Indian who was taken aim one of them and the other man shot the Indian, who they buried in a swamp. The two families have different stories as to who shot the Indian. The story was never told until old age as not to cause an Indian attack. I think the real reason was they were from the New Haven colony and The west woods were part of Farmington.
I also found a great site that I need to explore, but haven't had time yet. It has info on Grandmother Ida Allen Barnes family. I have so many directions to go, but am fascinated by this local history.