David Wooster David Wooster ( – May 2 , 1777 ) was an American general who served in the French and Indian War and in the American Revolutionary War . He died of wounds sustained during the Battle of Ridgefield , Connecticut . Cities , schools , and public places were named after him . He has been called " a largely forgotten hero of the Revolution . " Early years . David Wooster was born in Stratford , in the British province of Connecticut . He entered Yale College in 1735 , and graduated in 1738 . In 1739 , following the outbreak of war between Britain and Spain , he joined the provincial militia as a lieutenant , but apparently saw no action . In 1741 he was named lieutenant of a ship of the provincial " guarda - costa " , or coast guard , which the colony had established to protect against potential Spanish attack . He was later promoted to captain . On March 6 , 1745 , Wooster married Marie Clapp , the daughter of Yale ' s president , Thomas Clapp . They went on to have four children ; their son Thomas also served in the American Revolutionary War . His grandson Charles Whiting Wooster was Commander - in - Chief of the Chilean Navy . Shortly after he was named captain of a company in the provincial regiment of Andrew Burr ( uncle to future United States Vice President Aaron Burr ) , and saw service at that year ' s Siege of Louisbourg . He was sent to France as part of the prisoner escort following that action , and then to England , where he was given an audience with King George and a position as captain in the regiment of William Pepperrell in the British Army . When the French and Indian War broke out , he served from 1755 to the war ' s end in 1761 , during which he was promoted to colonel and given command of the 3rd Connecticut regiment . In 1758 his regiment was at the disastrous Battle of Carillon before Fort Ticonderoga , and in 1759 at the successful capture of Ticonderoga . Early Revolutionary War service . When the American Revolutionary War broke out with the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775 , Wooster was in charge of the militia at New Haven . Benedict Arnold wanted to march with his militia company in support of the cause , but Wooster tried to deny Arnold access to the militia ' s weapons stores . Arnold ' s threats were persuasive , and Wooster opened the magazine to him . ( This confrontation is commemorated in New Haven as Powder House Day . ) Wooster was first given command as a major general of Connecticut militia companies sent to defend New York City against possible British troop landings . When the Continental Army was established , Wooster was commissioned a brigadier general , and his troops were sent to be part of General Philip Schuyler and General Richard Montgomery ' s 1775 invasion of Quebec . Wooster participated in the Siege of Fort St . Jean in the fall of 1775 , and was then given military command of Montreal after that city fell in November . He assumed command of all the forces in Quebec following the death of Montgomery in the Battle of Quebec at the end of December 1775 . Wooster ' s management of Montreal was marked by deteriorating relations with the inhabitants , as efforts to rein in Loyalist activity ended up frustrating even sympathetic locals . He was eventually charged with incompetence over his tenure at Montreal ; the court martial cleared him . In April 1776 Wooster took reinforcements to relieve General Arnold , who was besieging Quebec City . Wooster was only briefly in command there , as General John Thomas arrived at the end of April . In early May , British reinforcements arrived at Quebec , and the army was routed , eventually retreating in disarray back to Fort Ticonderoga in July . Wooster returned to Connecticut , where he assumed command of the entire provincial militia responsible for the state ' s defense as the state ' s first major general . Danbury raid . British General ( and former provincial governor of New York ) William Tryon launched an expedition in April 1777 to raid a Continental Army supply depot at Danbury , Connecticut . On April 25 , about 2 , 000 British troops landed near Fairfield , and marched inland , reaching Danbury without resistance on the morning of April 26 . They chased away the small garrison , destroyed a large number of supplies , and set fire to parts of the town . When Wooster was alerted to this movement , he notified General Arnold , who was visiting his family in New Haven , and set about calling out the militia to oppose the action . Arnold took several hundred men to set up a position at Ridgefield , while Wooster took a smaller detachment to harass the rear of Tryon ' s column as they returned to the coast . His first attack caught Tryon by surprise , but he was prepared for Wooster ' s second attack , which was made as the column neared Ridgefield . Wooster was mortally wounded when the Redcoats unlimbered six artillery pieces and opened fire . He was taken to the Dibble House in Danbury where he died on May 2 , 1777 . Wooster ' s finals words were , " I am dying , but with a strong hope and persuasion that my country will gain her independence . " Memorials . On June 17 , 1777 , Congress voted that a suitable monument should be erected in his memory , but measures were never inaugurated to execute the resolution . His grave was not identified until 1854 , when Connecticut legislature laid the cornerstone of a monument . A sign and a monument on Route 116 ( North Salem Road ) just a few yards away from the intersection with Tackora Trail , marks the spot where General David Wooster fell , during the Battle of Ridgefield in 1777 . Today , a monument high marks his final resting place . General Wooster is buried in the Wooster cemetery on Mount Moriah , which dates from the middle of the nineteenth century . Wooster ' s monument is surrounded by a stone and iron railing . The monument is heavily carved with a variety of military and Masonic symbols , as well as classical Greek motifs . Among extensive information carved into the monument is this quote , " Of his country Wooster said , ' my life has ever been devoted to her services from my youth up , though never before in a cause like this — a cause for which I would most cheerfully risk and lay down my life ' . " In the 1820s , the city of New Haven converted a small pasture into a public square and named it Wooster Square after Wooster . Today , the entire neighborhood , as well as several streets , all carry Wooster ' s name . The neighborhood was the center of large - scale Italian immigration to the city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries , and still retains a large Italian presence today . Wooster School , a private day school , Wooster Mountain State Park and numerous streets are named after Wooster in Danbury , Bethel , and Ridgefield , as well as David Wooster Middle School , a public school in Stratford , Connecticut , a street in New York City , and the city of Wooster , Ohio ( which houses the College of Wooster and the appropriately named Wooster High School Generals ) . Ben Douglass , in his 1878 history of Wayne County , Ohio , characterized Wooster as " a man of prepossessing appearance , of rare intellectual culture and accomplished education . "