September 2017

  Here are two poems that correct the false history propagated in Longfellow's poem by acknowledging Israel Bissell as a hero of the Revolutionary War. Israel Bissell’s Ride by Gerard Chapman Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of Israel Bissell of yesteryear: A poet-less patriot whose fame, I fear, Was eclipsed by that of Paul Revere. He lacks the renown that accrued to Revere For no rhymester wrote ballad to blazon his fame; But Bissell accomplished—and isn’t it queer?— A feat that