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William Whipple Jr. (January 25, 1731
NS OS.html"_;"title="Old_Style.html"_;"title="anuary_14,_1730_Old_Style">OS">Old_Style.html"_;"title="anuary_14,_1730_Old_Style">OS/nowiki>_–_November_28,_1785)_was_an_American_Founding_Fathers_of_the_United_States.html" "title="Old_Style">OS.html" ;"title="Old_Style.html" ;"title="anuary 14, 1730 Old Style">OS">Old_Style.html" ;"title="anuary 14, 1730 Old Style">OS/nowiki> – November 28, 1785) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States">Founding Father
The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...
and signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence. He represented New Hampshire as a member of the Continental Congress from 1776 through 1779.
He worked as both a ship's captain and a merchant, and he studied in college to become a judge. He died of heart complications in 1785, aged 55.
Early life and education
Whipple was born in
Kittery
Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, Maine, Kittery Point, and part of the Isles of Shoals. The ...
in
Massachusetts Bay
Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Maine that forms part of the central coastline of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Description
The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about . Its ...
(now
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
) in the
William Whipple House to Captain William Whipple Sr. and his wife Mary (née Cutt).
He was educated at a common school until he went off to sea, where he became a ship's master at age 21.
He married his first cousin Catherine Moffat in 1767,
and they moved into the
Moffatt-Ladd House
The Moffatt-Ladd House, also known as the William Whipple House, is a historic house museum and National Historic Landmark in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States. The 1763 Georgian house was the home of William Whipple (1730–1785), a F ...
on Market Street in
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
in 1769.
Their son William Whipple III died in infancy.
Whipple was a descendant of
Samuel Appleton, early settler in
Ipswich, Massachusetts.
Whipple earned his fortune participating in the
Triangle trade
Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset t ...
of the West Indies and Africa,
with cargo such as wood, rum, and enslaved humans.
He established himself as a merchant in Portsmouth in 1759, in partnership with his brother Joseph.
Political career
In 1775, New Hampshire dissolved the British Royal government and organized a House of Representatives and an Executive Council known collectively as a
Provincial Congress
The Provincial Congresses were extra-legal legislative bodies established in ten of the Thirteen Colonies early in the American Revolution. Some were referred to as congresses while others used different terms for a similar type body. These bodies ...
, and Whipple was elected to represent Portsmouth. He became a member of the
Committee of Safety. He was then elected to the Continental Congress, and he signed the United States Declaration of Independence. He was the second cousin of fellow signatory
Stephen Hopkins.
In January 1776, Whipple wrote to fellow signatory
Josiah Bartlett
Josiah Bartlett ( – May 19, 1795) was an American Founding Father, physician, statesman, a delegate to the Continental Congress for New Hampshire, and a signatory to the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation. He served as ...
of the approaching convention:
This year, my Friend, is big with mighty events. Nothing less than the fate of America depends on the virtue of her sons, and if they do not have virtue enough to support the most Glorious Cause ever human beings were engaged in, they don't deserve the blessings of freedom.
Whipple freed his enslaved servant,
Prince Whipple, believing that no man could fight for freedom and hold another in bondage.
He wrote:
A recommendation is gone thither for raising some regiments of Blacks. This, I suppose will lay a foundation for the emancipation
Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranch ...
of those wretches in that country. I hope it will be the means of dispensing the blessings of Freedom to all the human race in America.
Military career
Whipple was given his first commission by the New Hampshire Provincial Congress in 1777. At
Saratoga, Whipple was placed in command of a brigade, consisting of four regiments of militia. Whipple commanded
Bellow's regiment,
Chase's regiment,
Moore's regiment, and
Welch's regiment. As a result of their meritorious conduct at the
Battle of Saratoga, Whipple and Colonel
James Wilkinson were then chosen by Major General
Horatio Gates
Horatio Lloyd Gates (July 26, 1727April 10, 1806) was a British-born American army officer who served as a general in the Continental Army during the early years of the Revolutionary War. He took credit for the American victory in the Battl ...
to determine terms of capitulation with two representatives of General
John Burgoyne
General John Burgoyne (24 February 1722 – 4 August 1792) was a British general, dramatist and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1761 to 1792. He first saw action during the Seven Years' War when he participated in several bat ...
. Whipple then signed the
Convention of Saratoga, the effective surrender of General Burgoyne and his troops.
Whipple was then appointed along with several other officers to escort Burgoyne and his army back to
Winter Hill, Somerville, Massachusetts
Winter Hill is a neighborhood in Somerville, Massachusetts. It gets its name from the 120-foot hill that occupies its landscape, the name of which dates back to the 18th century. Winter Hill is located roughly north of Medford Street, west of McG ...
. Whipple passed the news of the victory at Saratoga to Captain
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...
, who informed
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
, who was in Paris at the time. News of the victory proved valuable to Franklin throughout alliance negotiations with the
French. In 1778, Whipple followed his commanding officer,
General John Sullivan to the
Battle of Rhode Island, where he commanded
Evans' regiment,
Peabody's regiment, and
Langdon's light horse regiment. After General Sullivan ordered retreat, Whipple and other officers resided in a house near the battlefield. The approaching enemy fired a
field piece
Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement.
Until the early 20t ...
from a range of three-quarters of a mile. The shot tore through a horse lashed outside the house and severely wounded the leg of one of Whipple's brigade majors, which later required amputation.
Death
After the war, Whipple became an associate justice of the
Superior Court of New Hampshire. On November 28, 1785, He suffered from a heart ailment and died after fainting from atop his horse while traveling his court circuit. He was buried in what is now the North Cemetery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
His headstone was replaced with a new memorial in 1976 in conjunction with the
United States Bicentennial
The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event ...
.
See also
*
New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 114: North Cemetery
*
William Whipple House, his birthplace in Kittery
*
Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence
The Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence is a memorial depicting the signatures of the 56 signatories to the United States Declaration of Independence. It is located in the Constitution Gardens on the National Mall in W ...
References
Further reading
''State Builders: An Illustrated Historical and Biographical Record of the State of New Hampshire''. State Builders Publishing Manchester, NH 1903''Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence''. By Rev. Charles A. goodrich, published by William Reed & Co. New York 1829
External links
Biography by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, 1856Burial site of William Whipple*
Colonial Hall
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whipple, William
1730 births
1785 deaths
Continental Congressmen from New Hampshire
18th-century American politicians
Militia generals in the American Revolution
New Hampshire militiamen in the American Revolution
Politicians from Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Signers of the United States Declaration of Independence
People of colonial New Hampshire
People of New Hampshire in the American Revolution
People of colonial Maine
Appleton family
American people of English descent
American Congregationalists
American slave owners
People from Kittery, Maine
People of pre-statehood Maine
Burials in New Hampshire