William Whipple
1730-1785

This distinguished signer of the Declaration of Independence was born in Kittery, New Hampshire—that portion which now comprises the State of Maine—in the year 1730. His early education, says what little biography we have of him, was received at a common school in his native town. When, however, he was quite a lad, he embarked in the occupation of a sailor, and followed the sea for several years. But when he was about thirty years of age, be left the sea, and engaged in the mercantile business, with his brother, Joseph Whipple, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. When the difficulties arose between this and the mother country, William early espoused the cause of the Colonies, and soon became a leader among the opposition to British authority. In 1775 he was elected a member of the Provincial Congress of New Hampshire, and was chosen by that body one of the Committee of Safety. These committees were organized in several of the States. Their business was to act as an executive body to regulate the general concerns of the government during the continuance of the war. These committees were of vast importance, and acted efficiently in conjunction with the committees of correspondence. In some instances they consisted each of the same men. When, in 1775, the people of that State organized a temporary government, Mr. Whipple was chosen a member of the council. In January, 1776, he was chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress, and was among those who, on the fourth of July of that year, voted for the Declaration of Independence. He remained in Congress until 1777, when he retired from that body, having been appointed a Brigadier-General of the New Hampshire Militia.

He was very active in calling out and equipping troops for the campaign against Burgoyne. He commanded one brigade and General Stark the other. He was under Gates at the capture of Burgoyne, and was one of the commissioners to arrange the terms of capitulation. He was afterward selected one of the officers to march the British prisoners to Cambridge, near Boston. He joined Sullivan in his expedition against the British on Rhode Island in 1778, with a pretty large force of New Hampshire Militia; but the perverse conduct of the French Admiral D'Estaing in not sustaining the siege of Newport, caused a failure of the expedition, and General Whipple, with his brigade, returned to New Hampshire. The Count D'Estaing agreed to assist Sullivan in reducing the town of Newport, but just as he was entering the harbor, the fleet of Lord Howe, from New York, appeared, and he proceeded to attack him. A storm prevented an engagement, and both fleets were greatly damaged by the gale. D'Estaing, instead of remaining to assist Sullivan, sailed for Boston, under the pretense of repairing his shattered vessels.

In 1780 he was offered the situation of Commissioner of the Board of Admiralty, but declined it. In 1782 he was appointed by Robert Morris, financial agent in New Hampshire,* but he resigned the trust in the course of a year. During that year, he was appointed one of the Commissioners to settle the dispute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, concerning the Wyoming domain, and was appointed President of the Court. He was also appointed, during that year, a side Judge of the Superior Court of New Hampshire. The early western boundary of Connecticut, before the organization of New York, was, like most of the other States on the Atlantic, quite indefinite. A Colony from this Province had settled in the Wyoming Valley, and that region was not included in New York. It was within the bounds of Pennsylvania, hence the dispute. At that time the Courts in New Hampshire were constituted of four Judges, of whom the first, or Chief Justice, only, was a lawyer, the others being chosen from among civilians, distinguished for sound judgment, and a good education. Soon after his appointment, in attempting to sum up the arguments of counsel, and submit the case to the jury, he was attacked with a violent palpitation of the heart, which ever after troubled him. In 1785 he was seriously affected while holding court, and retiring to his chamber, he never left it again while living. He expired on the twenty-eighth day of November, 1785, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. He requested a post-mortem examination, which being done, it was found that a portion of his heart had become ossified or bony.

*Robert Morris was then the manager of the finances of the Confederation, and these agents in the various States were a kind of sub-treasurers. Hence it was an office that required honest and faithful incumbents.