Windsor and the 250th Anniversary of the Lexington Alarm

The battle of Lexington, April 19th. 1775. Plate I. | The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1775.

The sparks that ignited the American Revolution were already smoldering 250 years ago, in the winter of 1775. Following the Boston Tea Party in December 1773, Great Britain enacted the Boston Port Bill, which took effect on June 1, 1774. By the winter, blockaded Boston was starving. Residents from across New England sent donations of food and supplies to them. The people of Windsor did their part to help. The town appointed James Hooker and Oliver Mather to collect donations. On March 20, 1775, they wrote to Jonathan Mason of the Committee for the Relief of the Boston Sufferers by the Port Bill saying that 391 bushels of rye, 89.5 bushels of corn, and a half barrel of pork would be delivered by a Captain Smith. Thanks in large part to the blockade, the mood in Boston was already fraught when people noticed a column of British Army soldiers marching west through Cambridge in the wee hours of April 19, 1775.

The Revolutionary War began that day with the Lexington Alarm. Joseph Palmer, a member of Massachusetts Colony’s Committee of Safety, was staying with family in Watertown. At 8 o’clock that morning, he got word that British forces killed six colonial militiamen in Lexington earlier in the day.

Paul Revere riding on the night of April 18, 1775, to warn Boston-area residents that British troops were coming. | From Britannica.com

Word of the fighting traveled fast to Windsor, thanks in large part to Isaac Bissell, who is now credited as the alarm rider who first brought word of the skirmish to Hartford. This is an honor previously credited solely to Israel Bissell through a case of mistaken identity.¹ It is possible that Israel and Isaac both carried the message through Connecticut along different routes. We know through surviving documentation that Isaac brought the message to Hartford. Born in Windsor, Isaac Bissell was then a blacksmith residing in Suffield. He was in Watertown on the day the fighting started and was appointed to bring Joseph Palmer’s letter alerting Connecticut’s Committee of Correspondence in Hartford and Colonel Foster of Brookfield, one of Connecticut’s delegates to the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts.

This receipt, dated July 17, 1775 lists men under Hayden’s command who were paid for their service done “in and for the Connecticut Colony in the Late Alarm at Boston.” It was countersigned by whomever picked up each man’s pay. | Windsor Historical Society collections 2011.1.49

By April 21st, Captain Nathaniel Hayden and 24 other Windsor men had formed an “alarm party” and were marching towards Lexington to join the fighting. Among the party were Corporal Cornelius Russell, Ezra Hayden, Ruben Denslow, John Allyn Jr., John Allyn, Elijah Stoughton, Sargent Samuel Wing, Samuel Gibb, William Davis, Lemuel Welch, Ebenezer Woolworth, William Parsons, William Thrall Jr., Gershom West, Oliver Lee, Oliver Hayden, John Roberts, Ebenezer Fitch Bissell, David Thrall, Martin Denslow, Eleazer Gaylord, Thomas Hayden, and [first name unknown] Bugbee.

The British retreat to Boston was complete by 7:30 the evening of the 19th, meaning that the battle was soon over. When Windsor’s men arrived, they likely joined the other men who had answered the Lexington Alarm by setting up siege operations around Boston as directed by the Provincial Congress and the Committee of Safety. Most of Windsor’s men who answered the Lexington Alarm were credited with serving only between two and five days, indicating they returned home shortly after arriving in Boston. Five Windsor men served 24 days, one served 14, and four more served 13 days, indicating that these men were more heavily involved in the outbreak of the war.

Many additional men from Windsor joined the patriot cause after this point, changing the course of history here in our town and around the world.

We hope you’ll join Windsor Historical Society as we continue to commemorate America’s 250th Anniversary between now and 2026! We will look back, not only at the role Windsor played in the Revolution, but also at the ways in which Windsor’s people have continued to fight for the American ideals represented by the Revolution into the present. Through community-based programs we’ll explore how civic engagement has shaped Windsor’s past and will also shape our future.

By Kristen Wands, curator, 2025

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