Israel Bissell outrode Paul Revere, yet didn't get a poem

[Ian David]

BOSTON -- Paul Revere gets all the glory for his midnight ride. After all, it was a stirring tale of patriotism told by a great storyteller.

But one young messenger who called the colonists to arms during a remarkable five-day dash across five states is a mere footnote -- a man mentioned in historical documents that didn't even get his first name right. They called him Trail. His name was Israel Bissell, and he is one of the Revolutionary War's most unheralded heroes.

Bissell, a 23-year-old postal rider when the war broke out on April 19, 1775, rode day and night with little sleep during an exhausting 345-mile journey from Boston's western edge to Philadelphia. On the first leg, he rode one horse so hard that the animal collapsed and died beneath him as he arrived in Worcester, roughly two hours after leaving Watertown.

<snip>

"Very few people know about poor Israel because Longfellow wasn't writing a poem about him," said Kay Westcott, a librarian at the Watertown Free Public Library.

Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor of television and popular culture, said the poem marginalized Bissell's accomplishment and enhanced Revere's for reasons that have little to do with fact.

"Paul Revere rhymes with a lot more than Israel Bissell," he said. "And it is one of those poems that gets in your head and won't let go. It has a meter like the gallop of a horse. It's like taking the ride yourself."

<snip>



When he set out on his ride, Bissell carried with him a handwritten letter dated April 19, 1775, and signed by Massachusetts militia Gen. Joseph Palmer.

It read: "To all friends of American liberty, be it known that this morning before the break of day, a brigade consisting of about 1,000 or 1,200 men ... marched to Lexington, where they found a company of our colony militia in arms, upon whom they fired, without any provocation, and killed 6 men and wounded 4 others. By an express from Boston, we find that another brigade are now upon their march from Boston, supposed to be about 1,000."

More:
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO49091/


See also:

Israel Bissell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Israel Bissell in popular culture

Bissell was mentioned in comedian Robert Wuhl's 2006 HBO special, "Assume The Position". Wuhl joked that his name sounded like a Jewish vacuum cleaner. In addition to that, Wuhl said that Paul Revere only went 19 miles from Boston to Cambridge, and that the only person he could have warned was the Dean of Harvard University.

<snip>

Israel Bissell in popular culture

Bissell was mentioned in comedian Robert Wuhl's 2006 HBO special, "Assume The Position". Wuhl joked that his name sounded like a Jewish vacuum cleaner. In addition to that, Wuhl said that Paul Revere only went 19 miles from Boston to Cambridge, and that the only person he could have warned was the Dean of Harvard University.




More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Bissell



See also:

Israel Bissell Jewish?

Reviving this thread --

I came upon the name reading through some History "trivia".
Seeing that the first name is "Israel" and the last name is a Yiddish word, it got me curious, if he was Jewish, he'd make a worthy addition to my site:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/3505/jewarmor.html

I came upon you guys while doing web searches on the name.
I saw nothing about Israel or his immediate relatives as far as possible religion/ethnicity.
I saw nothing at all about his ancestry.

Note -- many of the Jews who came to the US early on do not have Jewish descendants - so if you yourself are not Jewish, does not mean your ancestors were not.

Anyway, I am interested in something that can lead me to possibly answering the title question of this thread.

Anyone know where he or his parents came from?
Anyone have any indication of ethnic memorabilia that had belonged to him?
Was his birth or marriage registered anywhere (ie: church, city hall...)?

More:
http://genforum.genealogy.com/bissell/messages/468.html




Remarkable Ride of Israel Bissell as Related by Molly the Crow
by Alice Schick, Marjorie N. Allen, Joel Schick (Illustrator)

Product Details
# ISBN: 0397316763
ISBN-13: 9780397316762
# Format: Hardcover, 53pp
# Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
# Edition Description: 1st ed
# Age Range: 5 to 8
Annotation
Relates how post rider Israel Bissell rode from Lexington to Philadelphia spreading the news of the battle that began the Revolution.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ISBN=0397316763&pdf=y&z=y


Road Race

The fourth annual Israel Bissell Road Race, a five-kilometer running race, will begin at 9; register from 8 to 8:45 on the church lawn across from the fire station on Route 143, Hinsdale. Top runner awards will be presented, and a full day of events are planned for Hinsdale's Community Day. For more information on the race, call 655-2181.
http://www.berkshiresweek.com/091803/default.asp?id=article21

[bbinacan]

1. I learned something new today

thanks for the post.

[AnneD]

2. Hard to come up with a decent

rhyme with Bissell. But I do remember there was another rider in case of capture. I remember it from my fifth grade text.

[Ian David]

3. Israel Bissell I remember him well. The tale of his ride is a story to tell.

That's a cop-out.

It's as easy-- or easier-- to rhyme than Paul Revere.

[jobycom]

4. For Wadsworth, maybe. But not for Snoop Dog:

"Listen to the story of Israel Bissell,
He's a real hero, that's fo shizzle..."


Ugh. Apologies to Snoop. Needs work.

[AnneD]

9. Revere ... here, that's a cake walk...

I like the rap...that has potential:dilemma: Work it baby work it....

[nealmhughes]

5. Jewish and vacuum cleaners were the first things to pop in my head as well, unfortunately.

Now I know about Mister Bissel who upon his hat wore a thistle,
Urging his steed on with crop and loud whistle,
From Boston to the Philadelphia he did flee,
in order to spread the news and did upon his arse receive many a blistah.

Not perfect rhyming scheme, come on, it's Bissell!

[Labors of Hercules]

6. Thanks for that!

:thumbsup:

[flyingfysh]

7. some of the facts are a little mistaken

Revere got beyond Lexington. He was arrested west of Lexington, but was released. He went to Lexington to warn Sam Adams and John Hancock, and William Dawes (the other rider who left Boston, by a different route) got there a half hour later. The lanterns in the Old North Church were lit in case neither rider got to Lexington.

He tried to go near my house in Somerville (then part of Charlestown), but had to go north into Medford to avoid British soldiers who were chasing him. He did not get to Cambridge at all.

The Lexington Militia was waiting on Lexington Green in the early hours of the morning, and were thinking that maybe it was all a false alarm. They all walked into the local tavern for liquid refreshment, and discharged their muskets into the ground at the door (you *never* walk into a tavern with a loaded musket). The volley of gunshots frightened the British soldiers west of Lexington who had arrested Revere, so they let him go and took his horse.

19 miles takes you well beyond Cambridge, which is just across the river from Boston.

There were several dozen riders; Revere was one of the chief organizers of the rider network.

You can read about all this in "Paul Revere's Ride" by David Hackett Fischer, published by Oxford University Press.

[bklyncowgirl]

8. Paul Revere was arrested by the British and his horse confiscated.

That's intersting. I love the story of the battle of Lexington.

Here's another cool story. Dr. Samuel Prescott, a patriot who happened to be coming home from visiting his girlfriend when he met met Revere and learned from him that the British were coming, was the guy who actually brought the news to Concord.

The British officer who commanded the party that arrested Revere apparently didn't know or care that Revere was they guy who set up the Minuteman militia operation and could probably give them some very good information if properly--er persuaded. Revere for his part, very kindly told them that those church bells they were hearing ringing all over the place were calling the local militia and that if they didn't get the hell out of there they were all going to die. One of the officer's horse was lame and they needed to replace it. The commander left Revere standing there and the officer took his horse and rejoined their unit.

I've read a story that later that day, I think at Lexington, when the battle started, one of the British officer's horses panicked at the gunfire and bolted into the American lines giving them their very first captive. Since you would guess that British cavalry horses would be used to gunfire, I would love to think that it was Paul Revere's horse, continuing it's patriotic service to the Revolution.

[Igel]

10. Interesting.

I never knew that "Bissell" was, ultimately, from French.

(As for American history ... not my thing.)