William Whipple

Date of Birth

January 14, 1730

Place of Birth

Kittery, Maine

Date of Death

November 28, 1785

Place of Death

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Spouse(s)

Catherine Moffatt Whipple

Children

William Whipple lll (died in infancy)

American Revolution Service

Signer of the Declaration of Independence, commanded troops during the Revolutionary War and was a member of the continental congress from 1776-1779

State of Service

New Hampshire

Donor

NSDAR Old York Chapter; Carla Rigby Chapter Regent; Janet Clarke, Chapter Historian; Elizabeth Blake Hotchkiss, Past Maine State Regent

William Whipple (1730–1785)—was one of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. Whipple returned from Philadelphia with horse chestnuts that he used to plant a tree in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Many of the delegates visited Bartram’s botanical garden in Philadelphia, and the horse chestnut, with its distinctive blossoms, would have been an unusual tree that Whipple would think only grew in Philadelphia. The DAR Pathway of the Patriots, connecting Bartram’s Botanical Garden to Valley Forge National Park is a particularly appropriate place to plant a tree in honor of General Whipple.

Portrait from D. Allan Kerr of Kittery Maine.

Surrender of General Burgoyne by John Turner.

Surrender key

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In him concentrated every principle that exhaust the dignity of man. His disinterested patriotism and public services are now known to all. And when newspaper encomiums are lost in oblivion, the pen of the historian shall preserve the remembrance of his virtue in the breast of succeeding generations.

- From the New Hampshire Gazette

Whipple was a former sea captain born in Kittery, Maine, at what is now the 88 Whipple Road Historic Homestead where Old York Chapter, NSDAR placed a plaque in 1913 and again in 2018 adding his name to the DAR database.

Whipple commanded troops during the Revolutionary War and was a member of the Continental Congress from 1776–1779. General Whipple was involved in the successful defeat of General John Burgoyne at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777.

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.

General Whipple then served as a state legislator in New Hampshire from 1780–1784, Associate Justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court from 1782–1785, and a receiver for finances for the Congress of the Confederation. He suffered from heart problems and died while traveling his court circuit in 1785.