Talk:Israel Bissell

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Our Israel Bissell? Israel Bissell, East Windsor, Ct., d. 1776 in middle life of camp distemper in Rev. War; m. Hannah ----, who d. 5/28//1799 They had Robert, Israel, Justus, Eunice, Roxana, Prudence and Anna.

The dates in the timeline seem incorrect, or at least the names of the days if we can believe time and date.com. At the very least I doubt that April 24th was both a Saturday and a Sunday! What is the correct timeline? -Shai-kun 22:18, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Israel Bissell

According to an article that appeared in the Boston Sunday Globe (Metro Region section, pages B1 and B6) of April 20, 1997, Israel Bissell's grave is in Hinsdale, Massachusetts, "in the far corner of the Maple Street Cemetery. He died in 1823 at age 71." The author of the article, Globe correspondent Dorothy W. Chapman, also notes "Israel Bissell was born in East Windson, Conn., in 1752. The article features a photo of a man standing at Bissell's grave. I highly recommend that researchers consult this article. 134.241.194.113 18:58, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Moved

He and Daniel Bissel are now related to the Ellis', Hewes and Dougherty's that still reside in East Windsor.

I moved this because I am not sure who the he is. Is "he" Israel Bissel? I would like to read more.

[edit] content

An anon IP added large blocks of text to the article. We appreciate your contributions, but in the form they were pasted in, it is not possible to keep them in the article. Please discuss the additions on this talk page, and they'll surely be put in.

Also, pasting text word-for-word from other websites could constitute copyright violations. This creates problems for Wikipedia, and so it isn't allowed.

Please try rephrasing the text, that would avoid this problem.

Thanks xC | ☎ 18:08, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] shifted

This was the removed content, could someone please have a look at it and add in whatever could improve the article-

The “bearer” Israel Bissell, a twenty-three old express rider from East Windsor, Connecticut, set out along the Boston Post Road toward Worcester about thirty-six miles away. The traffic was unusually heavy with hundreds of militiamen from towns further west heading for Concord in answer to the earlier alarm. Those who had not yet heard the news were startled by the cries of “the war has begun, the war has begun!” - The home of General Artemas Ward, newly elected Commander-in-Chief of the Massachusetts militia, still overlooks the Boston Road in Shrewsbury about five miles east of Worcester. Ward was confined to bed with a painful bladder stone when the message arrived. At sunrise the next day he painfully mounted his horse and headed for Cambridge. - Before noon Bissell arrived in Worcester dusty and tired shouting: “To arms, to arms, the war has begun!” His fast white horses, spent with fatigue, fell dead near the meetinghouse and Palmer's plea for additional horses became prophetic. An old signal cannon was fired from the hill behind the meetinghouse and the bell was rung to alert the outlying towns of important news. Palmer's original letter was copied and the first endorsement added: - “A true copy taken from the original per order of the Committee of Correspondence for Worcester - - April 19, 1775. - Attest. Nathan Baldwin, Town Clerk.” - The whereabouts of the original copy is not known, but the practice of keeping the copy received and sending a new copy forward was followed several times along the route. Copies were also made by individuals for their personal files or to send as dispatches or marching orders. Several copies can be found in the archives of local newspapers and broadsides which were printed as the news spread southward. - Also not known with certainty is the identity of the post rider who carried the news southward. Israel Bissell's name remained as part of the letter as it was written by Joseph Palmer and copied many times along the route. The spelling of Israel's first name changes slightly as copies of the letter are made and sent forward, but strictly speaking, unless other evidence such as separate news accounts or manuscripts are found, we can only speculate, as have several historians, that Israel Bissell actually carried the letter the entire distance to Philadelphia. - http://www.connecticutsar.org/articles/lexington_alarm.htm - - Israel Bissell, is the 23-year old, little known, post rider who carried the "call to arms" alerting the colonists of the British attack on April 19, 1775. He rode day and night for four days, six hours and some minutes covering 345 miles from Watertown to the City Hall in Philadelphia. - Along the way he roused citizens in tiny hamlets, towns and cities shouting of the impending danger that started with the "shot heard round the world" for American independence. - "To arms to arms, the war has begun" he warned. Sleeping little, eating sparingly, changing horses, he persevered and sounded the alarm. The exhausted and disheveled Bissell delivered the message which was to change the course of this country. The rest is history. - His body lies in a tiny cemetery in Hinsdale, Ma., a few miles from his home site that is marked by a simple boulder where the memory of his heroic ride is carefully preserved. - Text © by Dorothy W. Chapman - Copyright © D. W. Roth 2007, All rights reserved - http://www.dwroth.com/frames/finearts/historical/bissell/bissell2.htm#back - - In 1775, the future rapidly became more ominous. State and local militia were organized, mustered, and drilled. On April 19, 1775, the British, seeking the "traitors" Samuel Adams and John Hancock, engaged the patriots in Lexington and exchanged fire; the war was on. Israel Bissell, a post rider, was dispatched at 10 a.m. on April 19 to Connecticut to alert the countryside to the "Lexington Alarm." He arrived at Norwich at 4 p.m. the next day and reached New London by 7. Stonington must have learned the news the same evening. - http://www.stoningtonhistory.org/archiv5.htm - - Local farmer Israel Bissell had played a key role in the first days of the American Revolution. According to authenticated records, he was one of the three post riders, led by Paul Revere and accompanied by William Dawes, who warned eastern Massachusetts citizens of the British march on Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. - Although Revere was captured briefly by the British, Bissell made his way from Watertown, near Boston, to Waterbury, - - The historic library was built in 1866. The English Tudor edifice, with Gothic, Norse and Celtic touches, was designed by Leopold Eidlitz, one of the architects involved in planning the State Capitol building in Albany, N.Y. - Conn., and then Philadelphia, where he reached the Continental Congress after a marathon five-day ride. - He spent the rest of his life in Hinsdale and was buried at the town cemetery on Maple Street. His exploits were chronicled in magazines, newspaper accounts (including narratives by Eagle columnists Gerard Chapman and Clay Perry), and in 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 died in 1990 at the age of 96; she 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. - http://www.berkshireeagle.com/fastsearch/ci_5471331 - - "Wednesday morning near 10 of the clock - Watertown - 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 and 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 about1,000. 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. - J. Palmer, one of the Committee of Safety." - http://www.bayequest.info/unbridled/unbridlednews-revere.htm - By The Associated Press - HINSDALE, Mass. -- Paul Revere got all the credit. - But residents here will tell you it was a young postal rider named Israel Bissell who did the lion's share of alerting the American colonies that the British were coming. - Revere, who was immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Paul Revere's Ride," was arrested by the British after galloping less than 20 miles. - - But Bissell rode for 345 miles, summoning the militia in five colonies in a blistering six-day trek from Watertown to Philadelphia. It was he who carried the historic message: "to arms, to arms the war has begun." - Bissell's story, recounted in a Boston newspaper, is know by few people nationwide, even as the 222nd Patriots' Day approaches. Every year, Hinsdale residents gather at the grave of their "unsung hero" to honor his contribution. - Bissell, who was 23 at the time, carried with him the "call to arms," part of which read: - "To all friends of American Liberty let it be known that this morning before the break of day a Brigade consisting of about one thousand or twelve hundred 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 provocation, and killed six men and wounded four others." - The startling report said another brigade was headed for Boston. The message, which was signed and copied by local officials, ended with an appeal: "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." - But Bissell continued to Philadelphia, the seat of the Continental Congress. - Along the way, he stopped in Worcester, where his horse fell dead of exhaustion. In New Haven, Conn., he alerted Captain Benedict Arnold who gathered his force to march on Boston. - Bissell marched into New York City on April 23, 1775, five days after the war began at Lexington and Concord. He arrived in Philadelphia the next day. - Perhaps someday the 1995 poem by the late Berkshire County poet Clay Perry will bring Bissell some deserving fame. His work begins: - "Listen my children, to my epistle; of the long, long ride of Israel Bissell; Who outrode Paul by miles and time; But didn't rate a poet's rhyme." - http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/04-97/04-21-97/a03sr018.htm

Thanks xC | ☎ 18:11, 25 March 2007 (UTC)