Photo By Lori Stewart | General Washington presents the Badge of Military Merit to two of the three soldiers...... read more read more
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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
SGT. BISSELL FAKES DESERTION FOR DARING ESPIONAGE MISSION
On Aug. 13, 1781, Sgt. Daniel Bissell, a soldier in the 2d Connecticut Regiment, faked desertion of his unit to fulfill an espionage mission in New York City for General George Washington. After thirteen months amongst the enemy, Bissell managed to escape and return to American lines with detailed information about the British forces in New York.
By 1781, American forces had been at war with the British for six years. With the French fleet’s arrival in Newport, Rhode Island, in July, Washington had additional forces and resources for a combined land and sea assault against the British. Washington and French Count de Rochambeau debated on whether to attack British forces under Sir Henry Clinton in New York City or those under Lord Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. To finalize their plan, they needed to know if Clinton planned to evacuate New York to combine his forces with those of Cornwallis.
Early on Aug. 13, 1781, at the behest of General Washington, Col. Heman Swift, commander of the 2d Connecticut Regiment at Peekskill, personally selected Sergeant Bissell for the dangerous mission into New York City. Born in 1754 in East Windsor, Connecticut, Bissell had enlisted as a fifer with the 8th Connecticut Regiment of the Continental Army on Jul. 7, 1775. Two years later, he reenlisted as a corporal in the 5th Connecticut Regiment, and upon his promotion to sergeant in September 1777, he transferred to the 2d Connecticut, where he served as the quartermaster. Having fought at White Plains, Trenton, and at Monmouth, where he was wounded, Bissell was a seasoned combat soldier respected by his peers.
When approached by Colonel Swift, Bissell hesitated but a moment before agreeing to undertake the mission. That night, he faked his desertion and crossed into New York, where he had about nine days to learn all he could about General Clinton’s plans and details of the number and disposition of troops in the city. Posing as a loyalist who had been forced to fight for the patriots, Bissell set about his mission. Unfortunately, within three days, Bissell became sick and, to receive medical care, joined traitor General Benedict Arnold’s American Legion, a new British corps made up primarily of conscripted patriot deserters. Bissell spent the winter in filthy conditions, cold, hungry, and bedridden, and unable to change his clothes, he became infested with lice. One night, delirious from fever, he nearly blew his own cover when he talked about his mission to his attending physician.
In the midst of his illness, unbeknownst to Bissell, Washington’s siege of Yorktown resulted in Cornwallis’ surrender and the end of major military operations of the war. Even after recovering from his illness, however, Sergeant Bissell spent several more months as a supply sergeant in Arnold’s unit, constantly collecting information while looking for a chance to escape. In September 1782, Bissell and a fellow patriot deserter requested permission to leave their camp to hunt down a stray pig. Once their ruse was discovered, they were pursued by a British light horse detachment and bloodhounds. They eventually bribed a boatman to take them across the Hudson River to New Jersey. Bissell finally arrived at Washington’s encampment on Sep. 29, and spent the next several days committing his memorized information to paper.
On May 9, 1783, General Washington awarded Bissell the Badge of Military Merit for conspicuous gallantry and sustained outstanding conduct related to his espionage mission. He was only the third soldier to receive the award, and it represented the first formal recognition of the role Army intelligence soldiers have played in combat operations.
Sergeant Bissell passed away in August 1824, never having returned to his birthplace in Windsor, where he was still listed as a deserter, a mark of shame on himself and his family. His name was cleared ninety-five years later when, in 1919, a plaque labeling him as a patriot spy was installed on his family farm. Sergeant Daniel Bissell was inducted into the MI Hall of Fame in 1988.
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| Date Taken: | 08.08.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.08.2025 16:02 |
| Story ID: | 545229 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 20 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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