Amazing History
Bissell Ancestors and America's First Witch Trials
Bissell Ancestors were among the accused, the witnesses and the judges in the earliest witch trials in America, beginning 50 years before the trials at Salem.
Those Amazing Bissells of Windsor --
Two True Stories about the Bissells from Rev. Increase Mather, written in 1684 just a few years after they are purported to have happened.
The families of Windsor's woodworkers -- including the Bissell, Moore, Loomis and Griswold ancestor families -- stuck together and helped each other in many ways, making Windsor the center of New England woodworking.
Founders of American Government --
A dozen or more Notable Cousins and ancestors of the Bissells were among authors and signers of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and America's first constitution, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut.
An archealogical study of 8th Great-grandfather Ephraim Sprague's 1705 house in Lebanon,CT.
Military Service by Family Members --
A summary of the service in the Marines, Army, Air Force and Navy and early colonial militias by Bissell ancestors (and a few "notable cousins").
The Flowering of New England --
This page describes the contributions to the American Renaissance in literature and the arts in the 1800s and to American culture by Bissell Notable Cousins Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Harriett Beecher Stowe, George Ripley and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Links to YouTube renditions of several iconic American songs written by Notable Cousins, including Home on the Range, My Wild Irish Rose, Blessed Assurance and others. The page also includes links to YouTube performances of Bissell family favorite songs including some from the old days of singing around the kitchen table or the campfire...
John Bissell and George Bisbee in the Civil War
Civil War 1862 -- Mustering in, Pittsfield, MA
Sept. 1862
Expedition to Hancock, MD
1st Battle of Fredericksburg, Va.
Mud March, January 1863
Winter Quarters,
White Oak Church, Va.
Civil War 1863 -- Second Battle of
Fredericksburg, Va.
Battle of Salem Church
Battle of Gettysburg
New York Draft Riots
Rappahannock Station
Mine Run Campaign
Winter Quarters,
Brandy Station, Va.
Civil War 1864 -- Battle of the Wilderness
Battle of Spotsylvania
Court House
North Anna River
Pamunkey River
Totopotomoy
Battle of Cold Harbor
Battle of Fort Stevens,
Washington, D.C.
Shenandoah Valley Campaign
Siege of Petersburg, Va.
Winter Camp, Virginia
Civil War 1865 -- Battle of Petersburg,
April 2, 1865
Battle of Sailor's Creek
Appomattox Court House, VA
April 9, 1865
Review of Sixth Corps,
Washington, D.C.
Mustering Out, June 21, 1865
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