William Whipple

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. Whipple was elected to represent Portsmouth. He became a member of the Committee of Safety. He was then elected to the Continental Congress and 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 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 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

The New Hampshire Provincial Congress gave Whipple his first commission in 1777. His enslaved servant Prince Whipple joined him, but challenged his position as a slave. Prince argued with William saying "You are going to fight for your Liberty, but I have none to fight for."{ William offered Prince his freedom if he continued his military service. Prince agreed and by the end of the war, William ended Prince's servitude and granted his freedom. According to the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Town Records,

At Saratoga, Whipple commanded a brigade of four militia regiments. 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 to determine terms of capitulation with two representatives of General John Burgoyne. 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. Whipple passed the news of the victory at Saratoga to Captain John Paul Jones, who informed Benjamin Franklin, 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 a retreat, Whipple and other officers resided in a house near the battlefield. The approaching enemy fired a field piece 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.