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UNVEILING 
 
 of 
 
 Memorial Tablet 
 
 to 
 
 DANIEL BISSELL 
 
 The Patriot Spy of the Revolution 
 
 at 
 
 Windsor, Conn., October 18, 1919 
 
 Under the Auspices of 
 Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth Branch 
 Connecticut Society 
 Sons of the American Revolution . Co'nTve'^^ r- '-'- '- £i 
 
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PROGRAMME 
 
 Invocation 
 
 by the Chaplain 
 
 HYMN 
 America 
 
 UNVEILING OF MEMORIAL 
 
 By 
 
 Master John Bissell Carroll 
 
 A descendant in the tenth generation from John Bissell, the 
 
 founder of the family in America 
 
 PRESENTATION OF MEMORIAL TO THE 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 Chairman of Memorial Committee 
 
 F. Clarence Bissell 
 
 RECEPTION OF MEMORIAL BY THE CHAPTER 
 
 and presentation to Conn. Society, S. A. R. 
 
 By 
 
 * John M. Parker, Jr., President 
 
 Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth Chapter 
 
 RECEPTION OF MEMORIAL BY 
 
 CONN. SOCIETY, S. A. R. 
 
 By 
 
 Dr. George C. F. Williams, President 
 
 of Connecticut Society 
 
 Address by 
 Prof. Edward F. Humphrey, Ph. D. 
 
 of Trinity College 
 a member of Conn. Society, S. A. R. 
 
 MUSIC 
 The Star Spangled Banner 
 
 Benediction 
 
 by the Chaplain 
 
 *In the absence of the President, his 
 place was taken by George S. Godard, 
 Vice-President. 
 
Sergeant Daniel Bissell, Exponent of 
 Real- American ism. 
 
 An address delivered by Edward 
 Frank Humphrey at the Unveiling of 
 a Memorial Tablet to Daniel Bissell, 
 The Patriotic Spy of the Revolution 
 at Windsor, Connecticut, October 18, 
 1919, under the auspices of Colonel 
 Jeremiah Wadsworth Branch, Sons 
 of the American Revolution. 
 
 Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth 
 Branch, Sons of the American Revolu- 
 tion, and friends are gathered here 
 today to dedicate another shrine to 
 Americanism, an Americanism, in this 
 instance, expressed not in words but 
 in a life of complete devotion to our 
 country's service, first as Patriot 
 throughout the War of the Revolu- 
 tion, and then as Pioneer, winning 
 new lands from the wilderness to add 
 to America's greatness. 
 
 There are within our borders today 
 those abstract theorists who hold that 
 the sole test of Americanism is "Cul- 
 ture"; others claim that ability to 
 speak the English language is the 
 criterion of nationality; while an ex- 
 treme school contends that America is 
 not yet and must never be allowed 
 to become a nation. Israel Zangwill, 
 who long since gave us the false 
 analogy of "America, the Melting- 
 Pot," in his latest work on the sub- 
 ject defines nationality as a "State 
 of Mind." The Yale Review very apt- 
 ly remarks, "His little book on na- 
 tionalities . . is likely to impress 
 many readers as the idle vaporings of 
 a man without a country. 
 
 The examples of our Revolutionary 
 heroes; Nathan Hale, George Wash- 
 ington, Colonel Knowlton, Daniel Bis- 
 sell, and their compatriots have long 
 since taught us that Nationalism is 
 neither physical nor mental. It can- 
 not be put off or on at will. It is 
 a moral and spiritual force. It de- 
 fies definition even though it is so 
 intimate that it cannot be denied or 
 betrayed without a feeling of shame. 
 It is as intense as religion and like 
 religion it has its Saints, Shrines, and 
 Martyrs. 
 
 The man whose heart does not ex- 
 pand, who does not experience a spir- 
 itual uplift before the altars of na- 
 tionalism is dead to some of the nob- 
 lest emotions of the human brest. 
 Concord Bridge, The Lake of the Four 
 Cantons, Vimy Ridge, and this monu- 
 ment to Sergeant Daniel Bissell are 
 but outward and visible signs of the 
 spiritual grace of nationalism. 
 
 We are here to assist in perpetuat- 
 ing through this imperishable altar 
 of granite and bronze the memory of 
 the supreme patriotism of a son of 
 Ancient Windsor, Daniel Bissell, Pa- 
 triot Spy of the Revolutionary War. 
 Another son of Ancient Windsor, 
 Stiles the historian, has said, "If hon- 
 or and gratitude are due to him who 
 boldly maintains a just cause by force 
 of arms and personal bravery, how 
 much more is it due to him, who, re- 
 nouncing glory's brightest dream, 
 takes upon himself the unenviable 
 character and office of a spy in his 
 country's service. . . Such was Hale 
 whose martyr memory is precious to 
 every patriots heart; such, too, . . . 
 was Daniel Bissell of Windsor." 
 
 The services of Daniel Bissell were 
 such as to earn for him the Honorary 
 Badge of Military Merit, accompanied 
 by an Honorary Certificate signed by 
 General Washington Tiimself wherein 
 the following note is made of his 
 special "^vvice to America: "Whereas 
 Serger Daniel Bissell of the Sec- 
 ond Connecticut Regiment has per- 
 formed some important service, with- 
 in the immediate knowledge of the 
 Commander-in-Chief, in which his fi- 
 delity, perserverance and good sense, 
 were not only conspicuously manifest- 
 ed, but his general line of conduct 
 throughout a long course of seiwice, 
 having been not only unspotted but 
 highly deserving of commendation. 
 
 Now, therefore. Know Ye, that the 
 aforesaid Sergeant Bissell, hath fully 
 and truly deserved, and hath been 
 properly invested with, the Honorary 
 Badge of Militaiy Merit, and is en- 
 titled to pass and repass all Guards 
 and Military Posts, as freely and as 
 amply as any Commissioned Officer 
 
whatever; and is further recommend- 
 ed to that notice which a Brave and 
 Faithful Soldier deserves from his 
 countrymen." 
 
 This certificate from the hands of 
 General Washington himself furnish- 
 es the clue to the importance of the 
 work assigned to Sergeant Bissell. 
 Washington realized the extreme im- 
 portance of the service of military-in- 
 telligence. IHe would entrust it to 
 none but his most intimate personal 
 associates; he kept personal control 
 of everything connected with the spy- 
 system. So much import was attach- 
 ed to absolute secrecy that we find 
 his own letters have very carefully 
 eliminated even the names of his most 
 trusted sources of information. He 
 even caused false papers, charges of 
 "Desertion to the Enemy'' to be reg- 
 istered against some of his most 
 trusted men. Such a charge we find 
 entered against Sergeant Bissell. 
 Fortunately in his case it is easy to 
 disprove this charge. In many other 
 cases it is not so easy, historical evi- 
 dence would discredit some of those 
 very men upon whom Washington 
 placed most reliance. If Washington 
 did use the system of "Double-Spies" 
 (Spies working for both sides), we 
 do know that his system worked in 
 1781 when it was subjected to the 
 final test. Washington secured com- 
 plete and exact information of all 
 the plans of General Clinton whilst 
 at the same time he was able to de- 
 ceive Gen. Clinton as to the plans of 
 the Franco-American forces. This 
 was the test of the service of 1781 
 which earned for Daniel Bissell an 
 Honorary Badge of Military Merit. 
 
 The year 1781 was the critical year 
 of the American Revolution. The 
 Patriots had fought for six years and 
 success still seemed as distant as in 
 the dark days of Valley Forge. The 
 Morale, the spiritual force, of America 
 was drooping. Recruiting was at a 
 stand-still and money was unobtain- 
 able. When Washington had started 
 for his Connecticut Conference with 
 Rochambeau in 1780, all the money 
 he could get together was $8,000 in 
 
 paper currency and more than half of 
 this had been expended before he had 
 crossed New York state. Had not 
 Governor Trumbull extended to him 
 the hospitality of the state, the Am- 
 erican delegation would have arrived 
 at the Allied Conference in the con- 
 dition of bankruptcy. Arnold's trea- 
 son reflected the morale of many pa- 
 triots and suspicion and rumor were 
 rife that others and men higher-up 
 were disaffected. 
 
 The American cause was at its most 
 cribical stage and the Allied Command 
 decided here, as they were to again 
 in the crisis of 1918, to stake the out- 
 come one a great campaign, York- 
 town. This was to be vastly more 
 complicated than any so far under- 
 taken; the possibilities of a miscar- 
 riage of the plans were innumerable. 
 The campaign required the oom- 
 pletest liason between all branches of 
 the service. Also it required the 
 completest information regarding the 
 plans of the enemy and absolute sec- 
 recy as to the American objectives. 
 
 On July 28th, 1781, De Grasse, Com- 
 mander of the French Fleet which had 
 but just arrived in American waters, 
 sent word to the Allied Command that 
 he favored an attack on Cornwalls 
 since it promised an easier and surer 
 success than the New York campaign 
 which was at a stand-still. This 
 V/ashington and Rochambeau took 
 under advisement. On August 17th 
 they sent word to De Grasse that 
 they had decided to move the Amer- 
 ican and French armies to the Chese- 
 peake. 
 
 iBut a great deal had been done in 
 those twenty days. Word was not 
 sent, even to De Grasse, until the 
 armies were already under way. In 
 the interval on August 13th Washing- 
 ton had selected Daniel Bissell for a 
 perilous mission into New York City 
 for the double purpose of securing in- 
 formation relative to the enemy and 
 of spreading false propoganda rela- 
 tive to the American plans. We do 
 not possess the instructions which 
 Colonel Humphreys, acting for Gener- 
 al Washington, placed in the hands 
 
of Sergeant BIssell, yet it requires 
 no great amount of historical immag- 
 ination to reconstruct them. A rum- 
 or was afloat that Clinton intended 
 to evacuate New York and transfer 
 his forces to the South. Sergeant Bis- 
 sell was to learn the numbers, dis- 
 position and plans of the enemy. 
 More important was the information 
 which Sergeant Bissell was to con- 
 vey to the British, in his character 
 as a "Deserter from the American 
 Army." In his own account of the 
 instructions which he received Ser- 
 geant Bissell uses this significant sen- 
 tence, "Then followed all the prob- 
 able questions that would be asked 
 me. In the several examinations, to 
 gether with their answers." 
 
 General Clinton was completely 
 misled. He learned that De Grasse 
 was coming but he was led to believe 
 that this new French fleet would join 
 the old one at Rhode Island. Then 
 too, although the Patriot forces began 
 to draw off toward New Jersey on 
 August 17th and were all in motion 
 by the 24th, Clinton was kept In ab- 
 solute ignorance of their objective un- 
 til September 2nd. A very clever 
 report spread through the City of 
 New York that Colonel John Laurens 
 had just returned from Paris with the 
 news that the Emperor of Germany 
 had declared himself the ally of Great 
 Britain and that, in consequence, 
 France was withdrawing her fleet and 
 troops to concentrate them in the 
 West Indies. So cleverly was this 
 story concocted and so skillfully was 
 it introduced into New York that even 
 Rivington's loyalist Gazette accepted 
 It as true and published it in all ser- 
 iousness, rejoicing in the good news. 
 Such was the propoganda which must 
 have been included in the Instructions 
 to Sergeant Bissell. 
 
 'Sergeant Bissell, "deserter from the 
 American Army," succeeded In enter- 
 ing New York and remaining at liber- 
 ty for three days, at the end of which 
 time he enrolled in Arnold's regiment. 
 
 When, at length, General Clinton 
 learned of the Allied objective he 
 tried to draw off the New England 
 forces by Arnold's expedition against 
 New London on September 6th. Ser- 
 geant Bissell knew of the plans for 
 this raid but he was already so far 
 advanced with the fever that he could 
 not make his escape. Taken ill, he 
 was sent to the hospital at Flushing 
 where he was kept until December 
 then to be removed to Harlem 
 Heights. He remained in the hospital 
 until May when he was taken out and 
 assigned to Quarter-Master Sergeant's 
 duties. Here he was able to learn 
 considerable of the plans of the Brit- 
 ish and in September he escaped to 
 the American lines; there to resume 
 his place in the ranks and to serve 
 out the remainder of the war. 
 
 Such was the Revolutionary record 
 of Daniel Bissell. Yet in dedicating 
 this monument here in Ancient Wind- 
 sor I would, in closing, call attention 
 to the After-War record of Daniel Bis- 
 sell. I would add to his service rec- 
 ord the rank of "Pioneer." Returning 
 to Windsor at the close of the war in 
 1783 he remained there only until 
 1790 when he. with the wife married 
 in 1789, joined that great army of 
 pioneers who moved forward to con- 
 quer for America an empire In the 
 wilderness. I cannot agree with the 
 historian Stiles that "His naturally 
 fine constitution never recovered from 
 the privations and sufferings to which 
 he was exposed during his service as 
 a spy within the British lines at New 
 York. . . and tended much to cripple 
 his energies and to thwart the suc- 
 cess which those energies would oth- 
 erwise have accomplised. "What 
 greater success could a Patriot of the 
 Revolution than to do his part In win- 
 ing this new empire for his country 
 and to leave therein a large family 
 to assume responsible positions. 
 
 Such, in brief, was the spirit of Dan- 
 iel Bissell, a Patriot and Pioneer, and 
 true exponent of Americanism. 
 
Z6 W 3 
 

 
 
 
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