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, in Ghana, of comparatively wealthy parents. When about ten years of age, he was sent by them, in company with a cousin, to America to be educated. An elder brother had returned four years before, and his parents were anxious that their child should receive the same benefits. 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 War, was much esteemed, and was once entrusted by the General with a large sum of money to carry from Salem to Portsmouth. He was attacked on the road, near Newburyport, by two ruffians; one was struck with a loaded whip, the other one he shot... Prince was beloved by all who knew him. He was also known as "Caleb Quotom" of Portsmouth, where he died leaving a widow, Dinah, a freeperson and two children.
According to the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Town Records, General Whipple granted Prince Whipple the rights of a freeman on February 22, 1781, Prince's wedding day. He was legally manumitted by Gen. William Whipple on February 26, 1784.
Legacy
According to legend, Prince Whipple accompanied General Whipple and George Washington in the famous crossing of the Delaware River and is the black man portrayed fending off ice with an oar at Washington's knee in the painting Washington Crossing the Delaware, painted 75 years after the event by German American artistEmanuel Leutze. Most historians doubt that there is any basis for this story. It is extremely unlikely that either General Whipple or Prince Whipple was present at the Battle of Trenton. At that time, General Whipple was serving in the Continental Congress, which had fled Philadelphia and reconvened in Baltimore, a distance of from Trenton. Moreover, Prince Whipple was not famous at the time the painting was commissioned, and it is unlikely that Leutze would have heard of him. However, his story of fighting to gain freedom was related as early as 1829 by C.A.Goodrich in his book Lives of the Signers to The Declaration of Independence.
