Sound the Alarm

On the evening of April 18th, 1775, committee of correspondence members in the Boston area began to send lantern signals as the movement of British troops was spotted in the area of Lexington. By April 19th, shots were fired and the alarm was sounded. Israel Bissell, born in East Windsor (1752) was a post rider and carried the call to arms from Watertown, Massachusetts to Worcester, then through Connecticut and down to Philadelphia. He rode 345 miles, obtaining new horses along the way as each was ridden to exhaustion. He arrived in Philadelphia on the early evening of April 24th. Along the route to all he passed and to the townsfolk of each stop, he cried that the war had begun.

ODE TO A HERO

There was a young man named Bissell,
Israel was his first name,
Who helped to set free our country,
And put the British to shame.

Originally he came from
East Windsor; called it "home town."
To a trust he was most faithful;
he did it without a frown.

He rode to Philadelphia
From Watertown, by mud ways;
Three hundred forty and five miles
In only five tortured days.

He rode his tortured horse to death,
To spread the alarming word
Of the battle at Lexington,
Each village he passed, they heard.

His shouted words, "To Arms! To Arms!
The war has begun!" They sprang
To answer his warning cries. From
Village and city they sprang

To fight their country's cause, They came
From business house and from farm
to win freedom and liberty
and a home-land free from harm.

After his ride was completed,
Bissell was soon forgotten.
We now take pen in hand so that
His name WON'T be forgotten!

- Michael C. DeVito, 1966

Poem published in East Windsor Through the Years by Michael C. DeVito.

-J.