Israel Bissell

Life

Israel Bissell was born in the year 1752. His date of birth is not known at this time. He was born to Israel Bissell (1718–1776) and Hannah Sackett (1726–1799). He was born in East Windsor Hill, Connecticut Colony, now part of the town of South Windsor, Connecticut. Not much is known in his life up to the 1775 midnight ride from Lexington to Philadelphia.

Letter

According to legend, at the end of Bissell's first leg, Watertown to Worcester, his first horse collapsed and died from having been driven so hard.

After completing his ride, Bissell returned to Connecticut, where he joined the army alongside his brother, Justis. After the war, he moved to Middlefield, Massachusetts where he married Lucy Hancock and became a sheep farmer. In the 1790 and 1800 U.S. Census he is listed in Middlefield, and in the 1820 Census he is listed in Hinsdale. Bissell died on October 24, 1823 and was buried in the Maple Street Cemetery in Hinsdale, Massachusetts.

Timeline of 1775 ride

This timetable appears in Elias Boudinot's book Journal of Events in the Revolution.

In popular culture

Although Paul Revere is better known due to the epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Bissell was the subject of the less well known "Ride, Israel, Ride," an epic poem by Marie Rockwood of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. According to Syracuse University professor of television and popular culture, Robert Thompson, this is not representative of the relative importance or heroism of each feat; rather, "Paul Revere rhymes with a lot more than Israel Bissell". Bissell's place in history was even further smudged by several historical documents which refer to him as "Trail Bissel", or even, as in the document reproduced here, "Tryal Russell". The error occurred when his name was transcribed hastily from the handwritten copy by the printer rushing to get the news set in type. There were also an unknown number of other riders whose names are now completely forgotten.

Bissell's exploits have been noted in magazines, newspaper accounts, and an anthology of Revolutionary era documents published during the U.S. Bicentennial celebration in 1976. Bissell was first honored in the Berkshires by Hinsdale historian Marion Ransford, who drew upon historic documents in the archives of Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland. At the behest of Mrs. Ransford, the Daughters of the American Revolution installed a special marker at Bissell's grave. Realtor Isadore Goodman donated the Bissell homestead site on Plunkett Lake Road to the town in 1972.

Bissell was mentioned in comedian Robert Wuhl's 2006 HBO special, "Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl". Wuhl timed Bissell as having left at the same time as Revere (which clearly conflicts with Boudinot's timeline), and joked that his name sounded like a Jewish vacuum cleaner to demonstrate why Longfellow decided to use Paul Revere as the poem's hero instead.

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.

Controversy

Historian Lion G. Miles extracted several documents from the Massachusetts Archives which seem to erroneously question whether an "Israel Bissell" actually rode all the way to Philadelphia. The documents reportedly support that an "Isaac Bissell" did indeed ride with news of the attack on Lexington—but only as far as Hartford, Connecticut. Bissell billed for six days of expenses while in Connecticut, rather than a full trip to Philadelphia.