Prince Whipple Symbol of African Americans at the Battle of Trenton

Introduction William C. Nell was a leading African American abolitionist in the mid-19th century, One of the most enduring symbols of the and published a landmark volume, Colored Washington American Revolution is that of Patriots of the American Revolution in 1855. By Crossing the Delaware. Painted in 1851 by this work, Nell is credited with saving from German-American artist Emmanuel Leutze, the obscurity the names and deeds of hundreds of painting evokes strong feelings of drama and heroism. It is the Creation Story of the African American patriots. It was Nell who American Nation. The story of Prince Whipple, first relates the story of Prince Whipple as the long identified as the young African American man in the boat with Washington. It is Nell’s soldier seated in front of Washington, is a account which has remained to this day as the neglected and little understood part of that only source for the presence of Whipple at Creation Story. Trenton. Such prestigious and popular reference sources as PBS’s Africans in America, The Painting & the Legend various encyclopedias and dozens of printed and electronic sites present this information as Nearly seventy-five years had elapsed from historical truth. the time of this epochal event to Leutze’s work. )RU D IXOO DFFRXQW RI :LOOLDP & 1HOO  During those intervening years, the promise of the Declaration of Independence had become a  DQG KLV ZRUN SOHDVH VHH 6HDFRDVW1+FRP sham in the United States, but still remained an inspiration to revolutionaries and liberals in foreign lands. One such liberal was Leutze. Prince Whipple did serve in the American Born in 1816 in Germany, Leutze arrived in the Revolution, both at Saratoga in 1777, and at the United States at the age of nine. Returning to Battle of Rhode Island in 1778. In December of Germany to continue his artistic training, he 1776 however, Whipple was with his master, quickly became involved in the democratic revolutions fermenting in Europe. Through his William Whipple in Baltimore, Maryland. work at the Royal Art Academy in Dusseldorf, William Whipple of Portsmouth, New Hamp- Leutze sought to both pay homage to the first shire, had been a ship’s captain and early modern democratic revolution, and to inspire his fellow Europeans by the idealism of the American Revolution.

When the painting arrived in the United States in 1851, it was a time of social upheaval caused by the conflict of a slave system within a society founded on freedom and basic human rights. America was split along this divide, and the Abolitionist movement looked for examples of American history that would remind their fellow citizens of the promise of the Declaration of Independence. It was at this critical time that the epic painting, Washington Crossing the Historians and popular culture have identified the African Delaware, entered the realm of American American soldier in the front of the boat as Prince Whipple. consciousness. Whipple was at Saratoga and Rhode Island, but not Trenton. Men of color did serve in John Glover’s regiment of Marblehead sailors, and in the many New England regiments which made the Crossing on Christmas Day in 1776. revolutionary. In 1776, he was a member of the (\HZLWQHVV $FFRXQW Continental Congress and was with that body :KLOH 1HZ (QJODQGHUV ZHUH DFFXVWRPHG WR in December when it moved to Baltimore to WKH VDLOLQJ WUDGLWLRQ RI FUHZV RI PL[HG DQFHVWU\ escape the British forces making their way DQG UDFH WKH ³JHQWOHPHQ´ RIILFHUV RI RWKHU VWDWHV through New Jersey. When Nell was collecting ZHUH QRW $OH[DQGHU *UD\GRQ RI 3KLODGHOSKLD his material for Colored Patriots of the Revolution, ZURWH RI *ORYHU¶V UHJLPHQW LQ  ³LQ WKLV UHJLPHQW WKHUH ZHUH D QXPEHU RI QHJURHV he included Trenton along with Saratoga and Rhode Island when telling the story of Prince ZKLFKWR SHUVRQV XQDFFXVWRPHG WR VXFK DVVRFLDWLRQV KDG D GLVDJUHHDEOH«HIIHFW´ Whipple. Like Leuzte, Nell used symbolism to inspire and remind Americans of the vision of a &DPSDLJQ RI  7KH 5RDG WR 7UHQWRQ *UHJRU\ 7 (GJDU +HULWDJH %RRNV  nation of free men and women.

African Americans at Trenton 3RWHQWLDO 6ROGLHUV DW 7UHQWRQ

3RPS 'HYHUHX[ *ORYHU·V WK &QWO At the outbreak of the American 6FLSLR 'RGJH %DOGZLQ·V WK &QWO Revolution in Massachusetts in 1775, hundreds +DQREHO %DOGZLQ·V WK &QWO of African American and Native American men 6LSHR %DOGZLQ·V WK &QWO 1DWKDQLHO 6PDOO %DOGZLQ·V WK &QWO served in local militias and state forces (Records /XWKHU -RWKDP %DLOH\·V UG &QWO of these men may be found in Massachusetts Soldiers 7KRPDV 6HPRU %DLOH\·V UG &QWO and Sailors in the War of the Revolution with the 3ULPXV +DOO 0DVVDFKXVHWWV descriptive key words such as black or Negro). This 3HWHU -HQQLQJV pattern was the same in Connecticut, Rhode Island 3KLOLS 5RGPDQ and New Hampshire. 3ULPXV &RIILQ 1HZ +DPSVKLUH 'LFN )RUWXQH 'XUNHH·V WK &QWO 0DVVDFKXVHWWV 6ROGLHUV DQG 6DLORUV LQ WKH :DU RI WKH WK 5HYROXWLRQ  9RO ,;9,,   %RVWRQ :ULJKW DQG 3RWWHU &HVDU &LSHR 'XUNHH·V  &QWO 3ULQWLQJ &R  LV DYDLODEOH RQOLQH DW DQFHVWU\FRP 6DPXHO 3RPSH\ &RQQHFWLFXW 7KLV IRUP DOORZV IRU VHDUFKLQJ E\ NH\ZRUG -RKQ 3RPSH\ &RQQHFWLFXW $EUDKDP 3KDURDK &RQQHFWLFXW &XGJR 6KHSKDUG &RQQHFWLFXW Many original records of the period no longer exist, so we are limited in our ability to 7\SLFDO DEVWUDFW RI PLOLWDU\ VHUYLFH UHFRUG form a complete list of men of color who served 1DWKDQLHO 6PDOO *ORXFHVWHU HQOLVWPHQW DJUHHPHQW GDWHG &KHOVHD 1RY   VLJQHG E\ VDLG 6PDOO DQG RWKHUV at the Battle of Trenton. However, from HQJDJLQJ WKHPVHOYHV WR VHUYH LQ WKH &RQWLQHQWDO $UP\ LQ existing sources, both primary and secondary, &RO %DOGZLQ V UHJW IRU WKH WHUP RI  \HDU IURP 'HF  and from critical analysis, we are able to  OLVW RI PHQ EHORQJLQJ WR WKH WK UHJW ZKR DJUHHG WR WDUU\  ZHHNV IURP WKH ODVW RI 'HF  DV UHWXUQHG develop a list of some of the African American E\ &RO %DOGZLQ GDWHG 7UHQWRQ -DQ   UHSRUWHG D men who either served, or likely served, at QHJUR Trenton. Some men are identified by naming 0DVV 6ROGLHUV DQG 6DLORUV 9RO S  patterns typical of the time period (African names such as Juba, Mingo, Cuffee; status Epilogue names such as Freeman or Liberty; place names such as Bristol or London; and classical names Although Prince was not at Trenton, he was at like Caeser, Cato, Primus and Pompey), these William Whipple’s side at the time of the names represent only about five percent of the Declaration of Independence. He was a prominent names of African Americans of the member of Portsmouth’s African American com- Revolutionary era (National Archives). Other munity after the Revolution and left a legacy that men are identified by military service records continues to this day. that correspond with the Trenton campaign time frame. Sources: AFRO American Almanac website: www.toptags.com/aama/index.htm Africans in America website (PBS): www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h48.html American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vol. II Blacks in the United States Armed Forces; MacGregor & Nalty, 1977 Prepared by Black Defenders of America; Greene, 1974 Richard S. Walling Men of Color at the Battle of Monmouth; Walling, 1994 December, 2001 on the List of Black Servicemen; National Archives, 1974 Anniversary of the Crossing Campaign of 1776; Edgar, 1995 [email protected] General John Glover’s Letterbook; Knight, 1976