William Whipple, Jr.
William Whipple, Jr. was the eldest son of William Whipple and was born at Kittery, Maine, in 1730. He began working as a cabin boy onboard a merchant's vessel. It was his father's wish. Before he reached his majority, he became Captain of a vessel and made several successful voyages to Europe." Some ignoramuses have vainly attempted to stigmatize his fair reputation at that era in his life because he participated in the inhuman slave trade. If they learn the true state of feeling at that time upon this subject, their anathemas will evaporate in thin air. The trade was then sanctioned by Great Britain, under whose government Capt. Whipple acted according to her laws, the King can do no wrong. The correctness of the trade was not then doubted, but by a few philanthropists, and its first cousin, the Apprentice System, is still a favorite project with England. Time and reflection caused Captain Whipple to see the impropriety of the traffic and entirely abandon it on an early day. He also emancipated the only enslaved person he owned who would not leave him during the war and fought bravely for our country's Liberty. If every man is to be condemned for the licensed or unlicensed errors of youth whose riper years are crowned with virtue, the list of fame will require many bold erasures and would be robbed of some of its proudest names. He who would do it must belong to the big crowd ignorant of human nature."
In 1759, Capt. Whipple relinquished his oceanic pursuits and commenced the mercantile business in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he married Catharine Moffat.
In January 1775, Whipple represented Portsmouth in the Provincial Congress at Exeter, convened for the purpose of choosing delegates to the Continental Congress. On January 6, he was made a member of the Provincial Council of New Hampshire. On January 23 of the same month, he was elected a member of Congress, then in session at Philadelphia, and continued actively and usefully engaged in that important station until the middle of September 1779.
He was present at the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and affixed his name to that bold instrument with the same fearless nonchalance as if signing a bill of lading. He was a working man and rendered himself extremely useful on committees. As a member of marine and commercial boards, his practical knowledge gave him an advantage over his colleagues. He was one of the superintendents of the commissary and quarter masters' department and did much towards correcting abuses and checking speculation. He was untiring in industry, ardent in zeal, philosophic in views, pure in purposes, and strong in patriotism. When he retired from Congress to serve his country in a more difficult sphere, he had the esteem and approbation of his co-workers in the glorious cause of Liberty.
In 1777, he became Brigadier General Whipple and took command of the first brigade of the Provincial troops of New Hampshire, acting in concert with General Stark, who commanded the other. Gen. Burgoyne was on the flood tide of military glory, rushing down upon the north like a herd of wild buffaloes over a prairie,spreading consternation far and wide. He was first checked in his triumphant career by Gen. Stark at Bennington, Vermont. General Whipple joined Gen. Gates about the same time and was in the bloody battles of Saratoga and Stillwater, where the palm of victory was measurably attributed to the troops under his command. Gen. Whipple contributed largely to the consummation of the brilliant victory over the British army. Colonel Wilkinson and himself arranged and signed the articles of capitulation between the two commanders. He was one of the officers who conducted the conquered foe to Winter Hill near Boston. His faithful negro participated in all the perils of his old massa and could not have been more pleased with the victory had he been the Commanding General.
In 1778, General Whipple was with General Sullivan at the siege of New Port, which was abandoned for want of the aid of Count D'Estaing, whose fleet was injured by a gale. A safe retreat was effected in the night.
In 1780, General Whipple was appointed a Commissioner of the Board of Admiralty, which he declined, preferring to serve in his state's legislature, which he continued for years. In 1782, he was appointed Financial Receiver for New Hampshire by Robert Morris. The office was arduous, unpopular, and annoying, but in his hands, lost much of its odiousness. At the end of two years, he resigned. On June 20, 1782, he was appointed a judge of the Superior Court. On December 25, 1784, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace and Quorum throughout the state, which latter office he held to the day of his death. He was one of the commissioners on the part of Connecticut to settle the controversy between that state and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania relative to lands in Wyoming Valley.
General Whipple died on November 28, 1785.