Israel Bissell

Israel Bissell (1752 - October 24, 1823) was a patriot post rider in Massachusetts who brought news to American colonists of the British attack on April 19, 1775. He reportedly rode for four days and six hours covering the 345 miles from Watertown, Massachusetts to Philadelphia along the Old Post Road, shouting "To arms, to arms, the war has begun," and carrying a message from General Joseph Palmer which was copied at each of his stops and redistributed:

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. Bissell died on October 24th 1823 and was buried in the Maple Street Cemetery in Hinsdale, Massachusetts.

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

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 . 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 Bissell's place in history was even further smudged by several historical documents which refer to him as "Trail Bissel", or even, as in the document reproduced here, "Tryal Russell".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.

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