Israel Bissell, also spelled Bissel (1752 – October 24, 1823), was a patriot post rider who delivered mail between Boston, Massachusetts and New York.
On April 19, 1775, British forces fired on colonists in Lexington and Concord, inciting the American Revolutionary War. Bissell was assigned to alert American colonists of the news and rally them to assist the Massachusetts minutemen. The Lexington Alarm message was carried by Bissell through eastern Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York City, New Jersey, and ultimately to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The order stated that Bissell was to travel through Connecticut, which he did; traveling along the Old Post Road from Watertown, Massachusetts to New Haven; where the dispatch included an order to take the message to Philadelphia. In New York, General Alexander McDougall added an order to obtain a new rider to convey the message to Philadelphia. According to the Sons of the American Revolution and Elizabeth Norton Hunt, Bissell went the entire way to Philadelphia.
Along the way, Bissell shouted "To arms, to arms, the war has begun", and carried a message from Joseph Palmer asking townspeople to send soldiers to the fight. Benedict Arnold of New Haven, Israel Putnam of Pomfret, and others mustered soldiers and headed for the battlegrounds in Massachusetts.
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Early life
Israel Bissell was born in 1752 in East Windsor of the Connecticut Colony of the British Colonies. He was the son of Israel Bissell Sr. His family settled in East Windsor after they immigrated from England.
Bissell was a post rider who carried mail between Boston and New York for the British Crown (subject to decisions made by King George III and the British Parliament). When the British fired Benjamin Franklin from the post of Postmaster General for the British Colonies, the Patriots established mail routes. Bissell worked for them, transporting the mail, including dispatches for the Sons of Liberty along the same route. In preparation for a war, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety chose Bissel to carry the call to arms from Watertown when the war began.
Lexington Alarm
Dispatch
On April 19, 1775, Joseph Palmer of the Committee of Safety sent Israel Bissell on a ride through Connecticut to warn colonists that the war with Britain had begun. The purpose of the dispatch was to have militias in five colonies rally to support the minutemen of the Massachusetts militia at the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
Bissell carried the "call to arms" message to Worcester, south and west through Connecticut, and ultimately to Philadelphia. The New York copy of the dispatch stated:
To all the friends of American liberty be it known that this morning before break of day, a brigade, consisting of about 1,000 to 1,200 men landed at Phip's Farm, at Cambridge, and marched to Lexington, where they found a company of our colony militia in arms, upon whom they fired without any provocation, killed six men and wounded four others. — By an express from Boston, we find another brigade are now upon their march from Boston, supposed to be about 1,000. The Bearer, Israel Bissell, is charged to alarm the country quite to Connecticut, and all persons are desired to furnish him with fresh horses, as they may be needed. — I have spoken with several persons who have seen the dead and wounded; pray let the delegates from this colony to Connecticut see this, they know Col. Foster of Brookfield one of the delegates.
Bissell left Palmer and traveled to Worcester, passing many people walking towards Lexington. Along the way, Bissell shouted "To arms, to arms, the war has begun" and "the war has begun, the war has begun". Townspeople rang church bells and fired cannons to alert neighboring colonists.
Bissell averaged about 69 miles (111 km) per day on the 345 miles (555 km) journey, requiring him to obtain fresh horses along the route. According to tradition, Bissell's horse was exhausted after the first leg from Watertown to Worcester. Bissell said to have made the trip within two hours, crossing a distance of 36 miles (58 km) that was generally one or two days travel for a post rider.
Scheide states that Bissell may have arrived in Worcester in the late afternoon or evening and rested overnight to get to Brooklyn by 11 a.m. on April 20, 1775. The Sons of the American Revolution state that Bissell left Worcester for Connecticut on the morning of April 20, 1775, Monroe Stearns said, "Bissell rode so hard that his horse dropped dead in Worcester that night. The next morning he got a fresh horse, and rode on."
Timeline
The timeline of the ride is based on the date and the time of the attestations at Bissell's stops. The attestations meant that the signers understood that the war had begun. The stops were:
April 19, 10 a.m., Watertown, Massachusetts
April 19, Worcester, Massachusetts
April 20, Pomfret, Connecticut - Bissell told Israel Putnam, who was plowing his fields with his son Daniela, that the war had started.
April 20, 11 a.m., Brooklyn, Connecticut
April 20, 4 p.m., Norwich, Connecticut
April 20, 7 p.m., New London, Connecticut
April 21, 1 a.m., Lyme, Connecticut, where he took a ferry across the Connecticut River.
April 21, 4 a.m., Old Saybrook, Connecticut
April 21, 7 a.m., Killingworth, Connecticut
April 21, 8 a.m., East Guilford, Connecticut
April 21, 10 a.m., Guilford, Connecticut
April 21, noon, Branford, Connecticut
April 21 or 22, New Haven, Connecticut
April 22, 8 a.m., Fairfield, Connecticut
April 23, 2 p.m. received per General McDougall, attestation at the 4 p.m. meeting of the Committee of Sixty, Wall Street, New York City
April 24, Elizabeth, New Jersey
Two post riders named Bissell
Isaac Bissell took a westerly route in Massachusetts, from Worcester, down to Hartford, and then throughout the Connecticut countryside for a total of six days. The dispatch that Isaac carried to Springfield identifies him as the bearer.
Israel Bissell spread the word about the start of the war. His usual mail route was from Boston to New York. The dispatch carried by Israel Bissell through Connecticut and to New York identified him as the bearer. The copy of the call to arms that arrived in Philadelphia identified the bearer as Trail Bisel or Bisiel.
The war and after
After completing his ride, Bissell returned to Connecticut, where he joined the army alongside his brother, Justis. They both were among the men from East Windsor, Connecticut, who served under Captain Wolcott. His father, Israel Sr. also served in the war. The younger Israel served in June 1775, in Captain Stoughton's company, and, in 1776, he served under Captain Wolcott for one month. His father died in 1776, and Bissell returned to the family home to take care of the farm.
After the war, Bissell moved to Middlefield, Massachusetts, where he became a sheep farmer. Bissell married Lucy Hancock of Longmeadow, who gave birth to four children. Bissell, his wife, and three children moved to a farm in Hinsdale, Massachusetts in 1790. Bissell died there on October 24, 1823, and he was buried in the Maple Street Cemetery in Hinsdale. The Daughters of the American Revolution placed a historical marker beside his grave in 1967. Printed on the marker is "In Memory of Israel Bissell, post-rider from Lexington to Philadelphia alerting towns of the British attack at Lexington April 19, 1775." Isadore Goodman of Pittsfield donated the former Israel Bissell homestead to the Conservation Commission of Hinsdale to be used as a historical memorial.
Legacy
Hinsdale historian Marion Ransford reported that the Daughters of the American Revolution installed a special marker at Bissell's grave.
In the late 1990s, David Roth artists made paintings for the Union Oyster House of Boston of historical figures including Israel Bissell.
In popular culture
Bissell was the subject of "Ride, Israel, Ride", an epic poem by Marie Rockwood of Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
The remarkable ride of Israel Bissell is a partly fictional account of Bissell's ride written by Alice Schick, Marjorie N. Allen, and Joel Schick in 1976.
Gerard Chapman wrote the poem, "Listen my children and you shall hear of Israel Bissell of yesteryear, a poet-less patriot whose fame, I fear, was eclipsed by that of Paul Revere."
Bissell was portrayed by David Bluvband on the cult public access program, The Chris Gethard Show in the episode "18th Century American Gladiators", which aired in August 2014.
Bissel was mentioned in ABC's show, American Housewife, Season 5 Episode 2.