Abraham Whipple Collection

Naval officer, of Providence, R.I.

Collected papers, 1763-1786. Bulk, 1777-1780.

Size: 0.25 linear feet

Catalog number: MSS 802

Processed by: Rick Stattler, August 1999

USE MICROFILM CS71 W574 1779 POS, NEG (letterbook only)

©Rhode Island Historical Society

Manuscripts Division

Abraham Whipple (1733-1819) became a captain of a merchant vessel early in life, and then served as captain of the privateer Gamecock, which captured twenty-three French ships in the French and Indian War. He was a leader in the burning of the Gaspee in 1772, and was appointed a commodore in the Revolution in 1775. In June of 1775, he claimed to have "fired the first shot on water in defiance of the British flag." In July of 1776, Whipple was summoned from the Columbus to Philadelphia to answer charges before a congressional committee, but was found guilty of nothing more than "a rough indelicate mode of behaviour to his marine officers" and was asked to "cultivate harmony with his officers." In 1779, he commanded a squadron defending Charlestown harbor from the flagship Providence, and was responsible for the capture of eight British merchant vessels. He was made a prisoner when Charlestown was captured in 1780, and was held through the end of the war. After the war, he farmed in Cranston, and then settled near Marietta, Ohio, where he spent the remainder of his life.

Showman, Richard K., editor. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene, volume 1 (University of North Carolina Press, 1976), 259.

Whipple, Abraham. "Address to Congress, June 10, 1786," in Abraham Whipple Papers, folder 2.

This collection consists almost entirely of Whipple's copied correspondence (incoming and outgoing) from the Revolutionary War. It includes one contemporary letter book written in the hand of Whipple or a secretary; and one folder of letters copied in 1853 by an historian.

In addition, there are several Whipple items in other collections at the society. Three Whipple items dated 1775 are part of the Stephen Hopkins Collection: the instructions of the Rhode Island Committee to Capt. Whipple of the sloop Katy, and two letters of marque and reprisal from Stephen Hopkins to Capt. Whipple. These items were all published in Rhode Island History in July of 1943.

Orders to Capt. Whipple dated 11/12/1775 as commander of the sloop Katy can be found in the Nicholas Cooke Papers. An 1835 letter from George Field describing Whipple's funeral, along with a copy of his obituary, can be found in RIHSM, vol. 4, page 139.

The letter transcriptions were donated in 1853 by C.W. Parsons. The original letter book was donated by Frances W. Sibley in 1948. The provenance of the other items is unknown, but seems in most or all cases to date back before 1940.

This volume contains both drafts of Whipple's outgoing letters and copies of letters he had received. Virtually all of the correspondence relates to official naval business, and the volume is really more of an orderly book than a letter book. It has been microfilmed, and is available in the reading room under catalog number CS71 W574 1779. The item sin this volume are listed below, in the order in which they appear.

Transcripts by C.W. Parsons made in 1853 from originals then in possession of Dr. Comstock of Wrentham, Mass. Some or all of Dr. Comstock's originals were later sold to the University of Michigan's Clements Library.

V,L 1778/7/2 To the Commissioners in Paris (original at American Philosophical Society)

Instructions from Nicholas Cooke as captain of sloop Katy, 1775 (was RIHSM ?-67)