Isaac Bissell

Isaac Bissell (January 25, 1749 – July 28, 1822) was a patriot post rider who delivered mail between Boston and Hartford, Connecticut.

[5] That day, Joseph Palmer of the Committee of Safety met Isaac Bissell at the Lexington Green.

[8][9][10][b] Other post riders carried the message throughout a network of mail routes in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.

[13] Post riders rode through bad weather, poor road conditions, and moonless nights, which controlled whether they were able to travel three or four miles an hour.

To all the friends of American liberties be it known that this morning before break of day a brigade consisting of about 1000 or 1200 men landed at Phips' farm in Cambridge and marched to Lexington where they found a company of our colony militia in arms; upon them they fired without any provocation and killed six and wounded four others.

[19][d] From Worcester, another rider carried the alarm south to Brooklyn, while Isaac Bissell traveled west on the Upper Post Road on the morning of April 20.

[24] Within a few hours of receiving the dispatch, men from the towns that Bissell stopped at were ready to march to Boston.

[19] General Joseph Hawley stated the Bissell's role was important to rally soldiers for the battles in Concord and Lexington.

Shortly after townspeople got the word that the war had begun, people headed for the battle, either individually or as members of three companies.

[25] Isaac Bissell took a westerly route in Massachusetts, from Worcester, down to Hartford, and then throughout the Connecticut countryside for a total of six days.

[15] Israel Bissell, sometimes confused with Isaac, was a postrider who spread the Lexington Alarm south through Connecticut, reportedly to Philadelphia.

[12][32] In 1776, he served as a sergeant in Captain Harmon's Company of Colonel Erastus Wolcott's Regiment,[12][32] participating in the Siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776).