Prince Whipple
He was a soldier and a bodyguard during the American Revolution under his slaveowner General William Whipple of the New Hampshire Militia who formally manumitted him in 1784.
[1][2][3] In his 1855 book Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, the nineteenth-century African-American author and abolitionist William Cooper Nell related some undocumented anecdotes about Whipple and his life: Prince Whipple was born in Ambou [sic], Africa, of comparatively wealthy parents.
The captain who brought the two boys over proved to be a treacherous villain, and carried them to Baltimore, where he exposed them for sale, they were both purchased by Portsmouth, New Hampshire men, Prince falling to General William Whipple.
He was emancipated during the [Revolutionary] War, was much esteemed, and was once entrusted by the General with a large sum of money to carry from Salem to Portsmouth.
Prince joined William as a servant in large weddings, dinners, balls, and parties held by the White population of New Hampshire and was well received.
[5] Despite the restrictions, Blacks had been reported to have fought alongside the colonists in many battles including Lexington and Bunker Hill.
[7] In 1780, the Southern Colonies began to draft free Blacks and a select number of enslaved men for military service as a response to the actions of the British.
[9] The increased need of men allowed Prince to serve as a military aide to William and a soldier in the New Hampshire Militia.
He married a woman named Dinah who was a slave in New Castle and was granted freedman status by her enslaver at age 21.
[14] At least two artists acknowledged Prince's patriotic service during the Revolution under Commander George Washington and William Whipple in two noteworthy art pieces.
At that time, General Whipple was serving in the Continental Congress, which had fled Philadelphia and reconvened in Baltimore, a distance of 135 miles (217 km) from Trenton.
