USA > Ohio > Biographical and historical memoirs of the early pioneer settlers of Ohio, with narratives of incidents and occurrences in 1775 > Part 12
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After the capitulation, he made an arrangement with Ad- miral Arbuthnot, into whose charge the seamen luckily fell instead of Sir H. Clinton, for their parole; agreeing that the seamen and marines should be exchanged, when an opportu- nity offered. But none such occurred, as the British govern- ment decided on keeping in prison all the American seamen which fell into their hands, until the close of the war. Their depredations had been so severe on their commerce, that they considered this the only effectual mode of restraining them. While their seamen amounted to eighty-five thou- sand, the Americans could at no time muster, probably, more than five thousand. The loss of so large a number of the continental ships, at the fall of Charleston, nearly ruined the American navy, and put a stop to any further effective oper- ations by sea. The presence of the French fleet on our coasts, supplied in some degree the loss of our own, and caused Congress to think there was not so much need of a navy as in the early years of the war, when they had to contend single- handed with the most powerful marine in the world. Ad- miral Arbuthnot was doubtless acquainted with the name
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and character of Com. Whipple, and felt more respect for a brave man in misfortune than many of the enemy's com- manders in the land service, who were generally notorious for their cruelty and ungenerous conduct to their American prisoners. Some delay must have taken place in carrying out the capitulation, as he did not reach Chester in Pennsyl- vania, the place of destination for the seamen, until the last of June. Disease prevailed extensively amongst his men, as is almost universally the case in besieged towns, especially the small-pox, which continued to be the scourge of the American troops, from the beginning to the end of the war. At Chester, no regular hospitals were provided for the sick, and with his characteristic generosity, Com. Whipple, hired a suitable house for their accommodation at his own ex- pense, furnishing them with all needed supplies for their comfort, whereby he says, "Many useful lives were pre- served to their country." At this place he remained two years and seven months, a prisoner, the most dreary of his life, until at the close of the war, he was exchanged for Capt. Gayton, of the Romulus, a forty-four gun frigate. During all this period, he was deprived of the means of earning a subsistence; and himself and family were to be supported out of his former stores, so that at the declaration of peace, he was left in a destitute condition, at the age of fifty years, a period when the energies and ambition of most men begin to fail.
In 1786, he petitioned Congress for a redress of his griev- ances ; and that they would do him justice, by repaying the amount they justly owed him. At the close of the petition, after stating his services in the cause of liberty, (a paper which has afforded dates for all the interesting events of his life,) he says, " Thus having exhausted the means of support- ing myself and family, I was reduced to the sad necessity of mortgaging my little farm, the remnant I had left, to
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obtain money for a temporary support. This farm is now gone; and having been sued out of possession, I am turned into the world at an advanced age, feeble and valetudinary, with my wife and children, destitute of a house, or a home that I can call my own, or have the means of hiring. This calamity has arisen from two causes; viz. : First, from my disbursing large sums in France and Charleston. In the former, I expended for the service of the United States, to the amount of three hundred and sixty French guineas; a large part of that sum was appropriated to the pay of a company of marines; the other part for sea stores to ac- commodate a number of gentleman passengers, sent on board by the commissioners, to take passage for America, for which I have never been recompensed. And secondly, my having served the United States from the 15th of June, 1775, to December, 1782, without receiving a farthing of wages, or subsistence from them, since December, 1776. My advances in France and Charleston amount, in the whole, to nearly seven thousand dollars in specie, exclusive of interest. The repayment of this, or a part of it, might be the happy means of regaining the farm I have been obliged to give up, and snatch my family from misery and ruin."
This sum with the interest would, in 1786, amount to at least ten thousand dollars ; add to this, six years' pay and subsistence, at one thousand dollars a year, and there was sixteen thousand dollars due him for time and money, ex- pended in the service of the United States. On the 10th of October, 1786, the commissioner of accounts in the marine. department, to whom was referred the petition, reported in its favor, when Congress directed him to refund the money advanced in France, but say nothing about the disburse- ments at Charleston. What the sum allowed to him was, is not stated, but in an application which he made in 1811,
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for a pension, he says he was paid in "final settlements, or United States securities, which, owing to his indigent cir- cumstances at that time, he was obliged to sell for two shil- lings and sixpence in the pound, or a discount of more than eighty per cent. He had but two choices; either to do this, or to let his family suffer for the necessaries of life." Thus, the government, instead of paying him in specie, or money equivalent to that which he had advanced for them, paid him in their worthless paper, which, purporting to be val- uable for its face, was little better to him than so many rags. Owing to the low credit of the country, it fell into the hands of greedy speculators, who finally realized, and put into their own pockets, the very money due to Com. Whipple. But he, generous man, was not the only one who suffered from his country's poverty; hundreds of others, both of the army and navy, who had spent years in the service of the republic, received nothing in return but these "final certifi- cates," the mere shadow of a reality. Soon after his ex- change, he received permission from Robert Morris, one of the board of admiralty, to leave the service of the United States. It is as follows :
" MARINE OFFICE, PHILADELPHIA, April 23d, 1782.
Leave of absence is hereby granted to Capt. Abraham Whipple, of the American navy, to go into private service, until called upon.
ROBERT MORRIS."
He now resided, like Cincinnatus, on his little farm in Cranston, and guided a plow instead of a ship. After the peace was fully established in 1784, the merchants of Provi- dence resumed their foreign navigation; and one of the first ships sent to Great Britain, was built and owned by John Brown, of Providence. She was called the " General Wash- ington," and a fine figure of his noble person graced her bows. The command of this vessel was given to Com.
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Whipple, and he had the honor of first unfurling the Amer- ican flag on the river Thames. Her fine model and attract- ive name excited the notice of the cockneys, and hundreds of persons daily visited her, as a rare sight from the new republic. This notice was not a little flattering to the pride of the commodore, who fully sustained the dignity of his country, and answered their numerous questions with pro- priety and kindness.
After his return from this voyage, he continued to live on his farm, and during the stormy period of the paper-money war in Rhode Island, was elected a representative to the Legislature from the town of Cranston, in 1786. The ad- vocates of the paper-money system were then in power, and chose Othniel Gorton, a clumsy old man, for speaker. Mr. John Howland, who narrates the following anecdote, says, "It was the habit of Gorton to keep a large quid of tobacco in one side of his mouth, which pressed out one of his cheeks. The most of the debaters were on the opposite side of the hall from that on which the commodore sat, and the speaker's face was generally turned that way. Once in the course of the debate, Whipple had cogitated a speech, which he waited for a chance to deliver. At last, out of patience, he rose and called, 'Mr. Speaker!' The speaker, whose face was the other way, did not hear him. He then raised his voice to its utmost limit, 'Mr. Speaker!' The speaker started, and turning to the commodore said, 'I hear you, sir,' rather audibly. Whipple then began as follows : 'I wish, Mr. Speaker, you would shift your quid of tobacco from your starboard to your larboard jaw, that it might give your head a cant this way, so that you could sometimes hear some- thing from this side of the house.' He then commenced his speech, which was not a long one, and when through, sat down." This anecdote is in character with the man, who often spoke in nautical phrases, and sometimes in language
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rough as the ocean's winds, amidst whose waves he had been cradled.
On the formation of the OhioCompany, he emigrated with his wife and son to Marietta, in company with the family of Col. Sproat, who had married his daughter Catharine. He was now fifty-five years old, when he left the land of his fore- fathers, to seek a new home in the valley of the Ohio. The fertility of the new world had been so much lauded by its advocates, that it conveyed to the mind the idea of a second Paradise. The first settlers, however, found that the "briers and thorns" of the curse were there, if not in reality, yet under the semblance of the tomahawk and knife of the In- dian. The first six years of his residence here, were passed in constant danger from the savage foe, although, from his age, he was not exposed so much to their attacks as younger men. He, however, once had a little taste of the feeling which attends the too near approach of the hostile Indian. Col. Sproat, with whom he constantly resided, during the war, had built a log-house about midway between the gar- rison at the Point and Campus Martius, and cleared a piece of ground for a garden. On this land Com. Whipple had a fine patch of melons, which somebody stole and carried away for several nights. Supposing the boys of the garri- son were the depredators, he one moonlight night concluded to watch for the rogues, by standing sentry in the log-house, a few yards only from the melons. With his old musket well charged, he took his stand by one of the loop-holes in the logs. About midnight three Indians stepped over the fence and commenced searching for ripe melons. Not expecting depredators of this kind, he looked quietly on, in silence. He could have easily killed one or more of them, with his well loaded musket; but he felt no enmity toward them ; they had never injured him nor any of his kindred ; but on the contrary, himself and countrymen were intruding on
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them, and taking the land of their fathers and themselves from them. And as to the melons they were not worth the life of a man, even of a savage. He resolved thus with himself. "If they do not attack me, I will not attack them." Had they been his old oppressors, the redcoats, and in time of war, as it then was with the Indians, his conduct would have been very different. He did not refrain from any fear of the result, for the report of his shot would have brought instant aid from the garrison, not one hundred rods distant, and the Indians would have fled without any attempt on the house, as they would at once conclude it contained more than one man. When they had selected such melons as suited them, they retired; and the commodore rested quietly the remainder of the night. At sunrise he returned to the garrison, but did not watch the melons again.
After the peace in 1796, he moved with his wife on to a small farm of twelve acres, on the bank of the Muskingum river, two miles from its mouth. He was now in his sixty- third year, and had no other means of support than the produce of this land, cultivated with his own hands. On this scanty plantation he continued to live and to labor for fifteen years, raising barely sufficient of the most common necessaries of life to support him and his aged partner in a very frugal manner, but lacking the most of its comforts, especially comfortable clothing, which was scarce and dear in the new settlements. He thus manfully struggled on, without murmuring or complaining, respected and honored by his acquaintance for his perseverance and industry.
At length in 1811, when he was seventy-eight years old and the powers of nature has so far failed that he could no longer follow the plow, or delve the earth, he applied to Congress, urged thereto by his friends, for a pension. They granted him half-pay of a captain in the navy, or thirty dollars a month. This relieved him from any further anxiety
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as to a support in the last days of his life, and rendered the remaining years easy and free from care.
Once during this agricultural period, he was allowed to visit the sea, snuff its saline breezes, and again be lulled to sleep in his cot by the dash of the ocean's waves, strangely calling to mind the scenes of his early manhood.
In the year 1800, some of the enterprising men of Marietta, formed a company for building a small vessel, and actually built, rigged, and loaded with produce, a brig of one hundred and four tons, named the St. Clair, in honor of the governor of the northwest territory. Her cargo was made up of pork and flour, and she cleared from Marietta in May, 1801, that town having been made a port of clearance. She crossed the falls of the Ohio in safety, and early in July was at New Orleans, then in the occupancy of the Spaniards, where the brig lay some days anchored in the stream, from the extrav- agance of the port charges, while she took on board some stores for the voyage. In July he sailed for the town of Havana, with a crew composed chiefly of landsmen. His first mate was a good seaman, but entirely ignorant of navi- gation, not being able to take an observation, or ascertain the latitude, so that if any accident had happened to Com. Whipple, no one on board could navigate the vessel. The second mate was Bennet Cook, a young, active man, and a good sailor, but ignorant of navigation. The St. Clair, however, reached her destined port in safety. Provisions of all kinds were scarce and dear, affording a fine market for her load. The flour sold for forty dollars a barrel, but was subject to a duty of twenty dollars. This port has always been noted for its high duties, which served to enrich the government, but to impoverish the people. With the pro- ceeds of the cargo, he bought a load of sugar. It was late in August before the brig left the port of Havana on her voyage to Philadelphia, where she was consigned and finally
.
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sold. In the meantime the yellow fever broke out in the place and attacked several of the crew, some of them several days after leaving the island. Fortunately for Com. Whip- ple, he found his son John, who had been several years on the sea, and a finished sailor, at this port, and engaged him for the voyage as his mate. His health remained firm, and with his aid the brig reached Philadelphia, in distress, from sickness and death amongst the crew. The voyage was a productive one to the owners, and encouraged the inhabitants of' Marietta to continue the business. Com. Whipple re- turned to his home by land, but did not navigate any more vessels to the sea. The St. Clair was the first rigged vessel ever built on the Ohio river, and he had the honor of con- ducting her to the ocean. In after life he used to claim the distinction of firing the first gun at the British in the Revo- lutionary war on the ocean, and the navigating the first vessel built on the Ohio river, to the sea. On the latter oc- casion Capt. Jonathan Devol, who possessed all the imagina- tion of a poet, if he lacked the harmony of measure, wrote the following lines.
The scene is laid at the mouth of the Mississippi, and as Com. Whipple entered the ocean with the St. Clair, Nep- tune and his Tritons are supposed to welcome him with military honors.
" The Triton crieth, ' Who cometh now from shore ! ' Neptune replieth, ''Tis the old commodore.' Long has it been since I saw him before,
In the year seventy-five from Columbia he came, The pride of the Briton on ocean to tame : And often, too, with his gallant crew, Hath he crossed the belt of ocean blue. On the Gallic coast, I have seen him tost,
ABRAHAM WHIPPLE.
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While his thundering cannon lulled my waves, And roused my nymphs from their coral caves ; When he fought for freedom with all his braves, In the war of the Revolution.
But now he comes from the western woods,
Descending slow with gentle floods,
The pioneer of a mighty train,
Which commerce brings to my domain. Up, sons of the wave, Greet the noble and brave !
Present your arms unto him.
His gray hair shows, Life nears its close : Let's pay the honors due him.
Sea-maids attend with lute and lyre, And bring your conchs, my Triton sons ;
In chorus blow to the aged sire, A welcome to my dominions."
For several years after this period, ship-building was car- ried on with great spirit at Marietta; but Com. Whipple, having opened the way to the ocean, left the future guid- ance of the navigation to younger men. Not less than twenty ships, brigs and schooners, from one hundred and fifty to four hundred and fifty tons burthen, were built up to the year 1808, besides some of Mr. Jefferson's gun-boats. Two or three of their number were lost in attempting to pass the rapids at Louisville, when the water was too low, but at a proper stage no difficulty was experienced. Several of them took in cotton from the plantations on the Mississippi, for Liverpool, in addition to their other lading, as the cotton bales were so loosely packed at that time, that a ship could not be fully loaded with that article. Owing to its bulky nature, ten cents a pound was charged for the freight.
As has been observed, in 1811, Com. Whipple received from Congress the half-pay of a captain in the service, or
11
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thirty dollars a month; which enabled him to cease from laboring with his own hands for the support of himself and wife, which he had been obliged to do for the last twenty- three years.
In early life he married Miss Sarah Hopkins, the sister of Gov. Hopkins, of Rhode Island, a woman every way worthy of him, and with whom he lived to enjoy the smiles, or to bear the frowns, of fortune, for more than fifty years. The fruits of this marriage were two daughters and one son. The oldest daughter was married to Col. Ebenezer Sproat, and the younger to Dr. Comstock, of Smithfield, R. I., where she resided after her father's removal to Ohio. John, his only son, continued to follow the sea, after leaving Marietta, and never married, so that the family name perished at the death of its illustrious founder. Several descendants of the female branches are living in the states of Michigan, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, under the names of Sibley, Comstock, and Fisher.
In person Com. Whipple was rather short, thickset and stout, with great muscular strength in the days of his man- hood : eyes dark grey, with manly, strongly marked fea- tures, indicating firmness and intrepidity. He was fond of daring exploits, and the more hazardous they were, with so much the greater alacrity he entered into them. For stern, rigid discipline, no man in the American navy exceeded him; and yet from numerous letters on his files addressed to him by his subordinates, he appears to have been loved and highly respected by those under his command. It was often noticed by the sailors, that in fair, pleasant weather, with a smooth sea, he was irritable and surly; but as soon as a severe gale or storm arose, and there was actual danger, his countenance brightened, while the most cheerful, animated air, took possession of the man, diffusing life and courage
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into all around him, so that no crew could be cowardly with such a leader. When in the greatest danger, he was the most at his ease. His benevolence and kind feelings for those under his charge were often put to severe trials, and always shone with brilliant luster. Thousands of dollars were expended by him ro relieve their wants, which were never repaid by the government, and for which he suffered years of privation and labor, at a period of his life when want bears most heavily on the mind of man. It is pre- sumed that no other one amongst the military or naval com- manders of the Revolution, expended as much for the men under their care, with the exception of that extraordinary and good man, the Marquis Lafayette. His success on the ocean was not exceeded by that of any other in the navy; and, although exposed to the greatest dangers and hazards, was never captured or wounded by his enemies, while at sea ; but when he stepped on to dry land, his good fortune forsook him, and at the surrender of Charleston, he became a captive for more than two years. His exploits and character will long be remembered by the inhabitants of Rhode Island and Marietta; while his name and portrait ought to occupy a distinguished place, instead of being passed by in silence, in The American Portrait Gallery, amongst the celebrated men of the Revolution.
He died after a short illness, on the 29th of May, in the year 1819, aged eighty-five years, at a small farm, three miles from Marietta, where he had resided for several years, near his widowed daughter, Mrs. Catharine Sproat, whose soothing cares and tender assiduities smoothed her parent's progress to the grave. His wife, Mrs. Sarah Whipple, died in October, 1818, preceding him but a few months, aged sev- enty-nine years. They lie buried side by side, in the beau- tiful mound square at Marietta, and his tombstone bears the
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following inscription, written by the Hon. Paul Fearing, his warm friend and admirer :
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF Commodore Abraham Whipple, WHOSE NAME, SKILL, AND COURAGE, WILL EVER REMAIN THE PRIDE AND BOAST OF HIS COUNTRY.
IN THE LATE REVOLUTION, HE WAS THE FIRST ON THE SEAS TO HURL DEFIANCE AT PROUD BRITAIN ; GALLANTLY LEADING THE WAY TO ARREST FROM THE MISTRESS OF THE OCEAN, HER SCEPTER,
AND THERE TO WAVE THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER. HE ALSO CONDUCTED TO SEA, THE FIRST SQUARE-RIGGED VESSEL EVER BUILT ON THE OHIO, OPENING TO COMMERCE RESOURCES BEYOND CALCULATION.
HON. JAMES MITCHELL VARNUM .*
"Two brothers of the name of Varnum, emigrated from Wales to Boston, just prior to the year 1660, and from thence to Ipswich, where one died without issue. Samuel, the survivor, purchased a large tract of land of the Indians, in the town of Dracut, county of Middlesex, Mass., and settled on it in 1664. He had issue-five sons: John, Thomas, and Joseph, and two who were shot in a boat while crossing the Merrimack with their father. The descendants of John and Thomas reside in Dracut and elsewhere. Jo- seph was colonel of the militia, and wounded in the Indian war of 1676. He erected a garrison house, which is still standing as the family mansion, in a good state of preser- vation. Joseph Varnum left two sons, Joseph and Samuel, who inherited a large estate from their father. Joseph had issue, and several families have descended from him. Sam- uel had four sons : Samuel, James Mitchell, Joseph Bradley, and Daniel Varnum. Samuel died in Maine, about twenty years since ; Joseph B. in 1821; and Daniel in 1822, on the patrimonial estate, which has remained in the family since the first purchase from the natives. Most of the brothers held prominent official stations in Massachusetts. Joseph B. was elected a member of Congress from his native district in 1795, and successively re-elected till 1811, and then elected senator one term, making his whole service in Con- gress twenty-two years. From 1807 to 1811, comprising
* The following sketch is chiefly extracted from a full and well written biogra- phy of Gen. Varnum, by Wilkins Updike, Esq., of Kingston, R. I., and published in the Memoirs of the Bar of Rhode Island, in 1842.
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two Congressional terms, he was elected speaker of the House of Representatives.
The subject of this memoir, James Mitchell Varnum, was born in Dracut, the residence of his ancestors, in 1749. He entered Rhode Island College, now Brown University, then established in Warren, and was in the first class that grad- uated from that institution, in 1769, at the age of twenty. He received the first honors of his class, and in a forensic discussion, vindicated the rights of the colonists in their re- sistance to British taxation, with signal ability. He kept a classical school for a short period after he graduated, and always spoke highly of its benefit to a student, to plant deeply in the mind those elements acquired in the college hall ; and his whole life demonstrated that he had profited by it. He was deeply attached to mathematical science, and delighted in its pursuits. His whole life was an evi- dence that he was naturally a mathematician. His habits were those of intense study and boisterous relaxation. He was fond of exhibiting his skill in gymnastics, and ever ready to exercise in that ancient art with any one who would engage with him, noble or ignoble. Strong and ac- tive in frame, and ardently attached to such exercises, he gave his inclination for such sports, the fullest range, to a late period of his life.
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