Posted on 04/17/2014 7:01:00 PM PDT by One Name
Minuteman groups were small, yet cohesive.
And able to meld into larger groups. Some had training, all had common tactical sense.
And all had purpose.
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.
Israel Bissell (1752–1823) 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
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Bissell
Izzy gets no respect.
345 miles on a Thoroughbred is kicking some serious ass.
The Pony Express riders out here changed out quarter horses after 10-15 miles sometimes, depending on the terrain.
Flat out in the dark is some balls to the wall stuff...
Good thing horses see better than I do at night.
It’s nice to have a clear cut case but at some point you just have to call bullshit.
I think we’re getting there.
Nobody even knows about it anymore.
My father memorized this poem in public school in Washington County, ME, sometime during the 1930-40s. We lost Dad to dementia nearly 3 years ago. In his early 70s he could still recite a large portion of Longfellow’s poem before a TIA started his 7 year decline. I miss him, but am thankful he did not know what Obama had done to this nation.
Thanks for posting this.
In public school they teach Anti-American History.
The Brits also had heard that Hancock and his buddy Sam Adams were around those parts and tried to get them as well, but they headed out of town before the Brits got there. They were at the Hancock-Clarke House in Lexington
The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list
Thanks for posting. It’s been years since I read that poem, and re-reading it today stirs my heart just like the first time.
Our Patriots were incredible, and Longfellow captured the scene perfectly (even though there was more than one “Paul Revere” spreading the alarm.)
Lexington & Concord. The first big gun grab in New England.
No, Lexington & Concord were preceded by a number of “Powder Alarms” starting Sept 1, 1774. It’s fascinating history how Gen’l Thomas Gage set about to seize powder before the colonists could get it following passage of The Intolerable (or Coercive) Acts.
“Early in the morning of September 1, [Genl Thomas Gage sent] a force of roughly 260 British regulars from the 4th Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Maddison, were rowed in secrecy up the Mystic River from Boston to a landing point near Winter Hill in modern-day Somerville. From there they marched about a mile to the Powder House, a gunpowder magazine that held the largest supply of gunpowder in Massachusetts. Phips gave the King’s Troops the keys to the building, and after sunrise they removed all of the gunpowder. Most of the regulars then returned to Boston the way they had come, but a small contingent marched to Cambridge, removed two field pieces, and took them to Boston by foot over the Great Bridge and up Boston Neck. The field pieces and powder were then taken from Boston to the British stronghold on Castle Island, then known as Castle William (renamed Fort Independence in 1779).”
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