Thread: The Crisis: Where's Paul Revere When You Need Him?

Where's Paul Revere When You Need Him?

The Crisis

By Jim O'Neill
Thursday, August 6, 2009

Attentive readers will remember that I talked about the “moral equivalent of warâ€

Yet again this Paul Revere issue shows how little we know about American History.

Israel Bissell (1752-1823) was a post rider in Massachusetts who alerted the American colonists of the British attack on April 19, 1775. He 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:

The ONLY reason we haven't heard about Isreal Bissell is because of the Longfellow poem "Paul Revere's Ride." Longfellow portrayed Revere as the the guy that rode the streets of Massachusetts because it didn't rhyme.

"Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere"

That is the line that has misconstrued Americans into thinking Revere was the one responsible. He was not. Bissell was Paul Revere, but he doesn't get the credit. Did you guys know that?

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. 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 Bissell's place in history was even further smudged by several historical documents which refer to him as "Trail Bissel". Nevertheless, there were 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.

The whole Paul Revere incident is a sham, based on the fact that Israel didn't rhyme with anything.

"And knowing is half the battle......G.I. JOOOOE!!!"