Henry Benjamin Whipple (February 15, 1822 – September 16, 1901) was the first Episcopal bishop of Minnesota, who gained a reputation as a humanitarian and an advocate for Native Americans.

Born in Adams, New York, he was raised in the Presbyterian church but became an Episcopalian through the influence of his grandparents and his wife, Cornelia, whom he married in 1842.

After ordination Whipple served parishes in Rome, New York, and Chicago, where he gained a reputation for his service to poor immigrant groups.

His Chicago ministry drew him to the attention of the newly formed Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota which elected him its first bishop in 1859.

He is best known for his clemency pleas in favor of a group of Dakota who fought against the United States government in the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 in the area around New Ulm, Minnesota.

Two commemorative statues are located on the site of the hangings (now home to the Blue Earth County Library and Reconciliation Park).

He drew his parishioners from "the highways and the hedges" - clerks, laborers, railroad men, travelers, and derelicts - sought converts among the city's Swedish population, and regularly officiated in a Chicago prison.

On June 30, 1859, Whipple was elected the first Episcopal bishop of Minnesota, an office he held until his death more than forty years later.

[4] In December of that year, Whipple made his first visitation of his diocese, including the Ojibwe missions of E. Steele Peake and John Johnson Enmegahbowh.

For many years, especially during the first two decades of his episcopate, he made regular missionary sojourns by wagon or coach through the rural areas of the state, often in mid-winter, preaching in cabins, school houses, stores, saloons, and Native American towns.

Although a high churchman in doctrine, Whipple preached tolerance of all views which fell within the scope of the church's basic teachings.

Urging that the church's task was to "preach Christ crucified" and that sectarian quarrels hindered this mission, Whipple pleaded for unity among all branches of the Episcopal and Anglican communions, and for harmonious relations among members of all Christian denominations.