Israel Bissell

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. 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 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.

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. (The dispatch was addressed to Captain Isaac Sears (of the Committee of Sixty).) Bissell met with the Committee of Sixty. Bissell then rode the Lower Post Road, 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. (McKenna states that there are no vital records about Israel Bissell or records that he delivered messages about the Lexington Alarm.) Bissell, his wife, and three children moved to a farm in Hinsdale, Massachusetts in 1790.

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."

Bissel was mentioned in ABC's show, American Housewife, Season 5 Episode 2.