Paul Revere and His Ride

Do you know the story of Paul Revere?  Of course you do.  Who doesn't know the poem?

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five
Hardly a man is now alive
etc....

We all should know that story.  But what if I told you that somebody rode harder than he?  What if I told you that the story you know was embellished?  Would you believe me?  Are you interested?  Then listen my children and you shall hear of the four day ride of Israel Bissell.
You're probably thinking to yourself, "This can't be true.  Who the heck is Israel Bissell?"  I can tell you that he rode more than Revere.  I can tell you that Revere rode 19 miles and Bissell rode 345 miles.  Israel Bissell was charged with alerting the colonists from Massachusetts to Connecticut to Pennsylvania.  Here's his story:

General Joseph Palmer, who was a general during the American Revolution as well, gave Bissell a note, that stated:
Wednesday morning near 10 of the clock - Watertown.
To all the friends of American liberty be it known that this morning before break of day, a brigade, consisting of about 1,000 to 1,200 men landed at Phip's Farm at Cambridge and marched to Lexington, where they found a company of our colony militia in arms, upon whom they fired without any provocation and killed six men and wounded four others. By an express from Boston, we find another brigade are now upon their march from Boston supposed to be about 1,000. The Bearer, Israel Bissell, is charged to alarm the country quite to Connecticut and all persons are desired to furnish him with fresh horses as they may be needed. I have spoken with several persons who have seen the dead and wounded. Pray let the delegates from this colony to Connecticut see this.

J. Palmer, one of the Committee of Safety.

Paul Revere warned the colonists from Boston to Cambridge of the British coming into town.  Bissell rode for 4 days letting the colonists know of the attack at Lexington.  After Bissell's first leg of his ride, his horse collapsed and died from being driven so hard.  Why is it that nobody has ever heard of Bissell, except for the vacuum company?  As Robert Thompson, professor from Syracuse University, put it, "Paul Revere rhymes with a lot more than Israel Bissell."  Talk about getting the short end of the stick.  To make matters worse, documents of Bissell's ride and other achievements were found, but his name was misspelled stating Train Bissell instead.  So first we'll open a wound, and then we'll pour lemon juice in it.  Way to go.  The ride of Israel Bissell isn't well known, and unfortunately there aren't many documents to do research about the subject.  So I guess Paul Revere ended up winning. Doing less work, but had a kick-ass name.  The American way.
I'm also going to let you in on a little secret, since that's what this blog is all about.
Paul Revere was captured during his ride by the British and was held at gunpoint.  During this time he told the British that he knew of their army's movement from Boston, and warned them that the British would be in danger if they approached Lexington, due to a large number of militia gathering there.  (For the record there were only around 70 colonists at Lexington).  The British didn't believe him and they took Revere, and other captives, towards Lexington until they heard a gunshot when they were within a half of a mile.  They demanded that Revere explain the reason for the shot.  Revere told them that it was a signal to alarm the country of the British's presence.  Panicked, the British let the prisoners go free and they ran back to their commander to warn him of the stand at Lexington.  Paul Revere did warn the British of the colonists gathering to make a stand during his ride, and the British were prepared when they entered Lexington. 
I would have liked to have seen that in the poem. 

It goes to show you that no matter what you are taught in school, or what you read in a book, there's always more to the story.  Sometimes, important information is lost, like with what happened with Bissell.  Other times the information is hard to come by, but is still available.  It wasn't until 40 years later that Revere's ride was made into a legend when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made Revere the subject of his poem.  Longfellow's poem is historically inaccurate and what's worse is that the mistakes were deliberate.  I don't agree that historical inaccuracy is needed to tell a good story.  Usually the truth is better. 
Remember the movie Braveheart?  SPOILER ALERT!!  In the movie the king dies when William Wallce yells freedom.  Did you know that the king actually died around 13 years after Wallace?  Slight misinterpretation of the facts, but I guess for cinema purposes it made it better.  Find a time period, and dig in.  You'd be surprised.