While poking through a drag-box of pinback buttons at an antique show recently, I came across a pin that piqued my interest. The pin celebrates the USA Bicentennial back in 1976. Since I am of the generation that can easily recall that nationwide celebration of our collective 200th birthday, I always smile when I see items relating to it. They are rarely expensive and, in my opinion, underappreciated. This pin was different though.
It featured an image of George Washington crossing the Delaware River on Christmas Day of 1776 flanked by two African-American soldiers: Prince Whipple and Oliver Cromwell with the slogan “We Cross Together.” There is a story behind this old pin; a story that most people have never heard. And it is a story that should have changed race relations in this country from the start. But it didn’t.
Artist Emanuel Leutze’s iconic painting of Washington crossing the Delaware is probably the most recognized image from that conflict. That action was the first move in a surprise attack and victory against Hessian forces at the Battle of Trenton in New Jersey. The original 1851 painting, displayed in a museum in Bremen, Germany, was destroyed during a World War II bombing raid in 1942. Leutze painted two more versions, one that is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and another was in the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C.
The people in Leutze’s boat represent a cross-section of the American colonies: a man in a Scottish bonnet, a man of African descent, western riflemen, two farmers in broad-brimmed hats (one with a bandaged head), and also a man wearing what appears to be Native American clothing. The man standing next to Washington and holding the flag is Lieutenant James Monroe, future President of the United States, and the man leaning over the side is General Nathanael Greene. Also, General Edward Hand is shown seated in the vessel.
The painting evokes strong feelings of drama and heroism and arguably portrays the Creation Story of the American Nation. Prince Whipple, the black soldier posed in front of Washington with one leg out of the boat pushing an ice chunk out of the way, should have been an integral part of that story. His presence is noteworthy because African-Americans are rarely depicted positively in 19th-century paintings. The eye is drawn naturally to General Washington standing at the bow, the straining boatman at the general’s right knee a literal footnote in the painting. His place in the Revolutionary artwork may be overlooked, but Prince Whipple’s place in history should not be denied.
Prince Whipple was born around 1750 in a village in Amabou, Africa (likely Anomabu in present-day Ghana) on the Gold Coast. His parents’ names are lost to history, but oral tradition suggests Whipple was born free and affluent and was sent abroad with a brother (or cousin) named Cuff (or Cuffee), two years his junior, to study in America. Instead, the youths were abducted and sold into slavery before their arrival in the colonies in 1760. Prince and Cuff were purchased by a pair of brothers, both of whom were wealthy white New Hampshire merchants. Prince Whipple maintained that his name reflected the actual status he had left behind in Africa.
Prince’s “owner,” William Whipple was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and an aide to General George Washington. During the Revolutionary War, he began as a colonel in the First New Hampshire Regiment then later rose to brigadier general. Some accounts suggest that he took his slave with him into battle while others claim Prince volunteered to fight on his own. Records from the war are often confusing and incomplete; for slaves and freedmen, even more confounding.
Initially, Prince served as a bodyguard to William because of military regulations that forbade Blacks from serving in the army. Despite the restrictions, Blacks fought in many battles including Lexington and Bunker Hill. The conscription of Blacks was in response to the diminishing manpower in the Thirteen Colonies. The increased need for men allowed Prince to serve as a military aide to William and a soldier in the New Hampshire Militia. Prince Whipple fought at the battles of Saratoga and in Delaware during the War for Independence.
In 1777, after his promotion to brigadier general, William was ordered to Vermont. Prince joined the general, but objected to his status as a slave soldier by stating “You are going to fight for your Liberty, but I have none to fight for.” William told Prince he would set him free if he continued his military service. In 1779, Prince Whipple was one of 20 petitioners who identified themselves as “Natives of Africa” who were taken from their native lands “while but children and incapable of self-defense.” These men went to the New Hampshire legislators and petitioned for their freedom. They stated: “God of nature gave them life and freedom, upon the terms of the most perfect equality with other men, that freedom is an inherent right of the human species, not to be surrendered, but by consent, for the sake of social life; that private or public tyranny and slavery, are alike detestable to minds conscious of the equal dignity of human nature …” The petition was tabled without legislative action, however, according to the Portsmouth, New Hampshire town records, General Whipple granted Prince the rights of a freedman on February 22, 1781, after the final siege of Yorktown.
Prince, who was also known as “Caleb Quotom,” returned to Portsmouth as a freedman and reunited with his brother Cuffee. He married a woman named Dinah, who was a slave, in New Castle and she was granted her freedom by her enslaver at age 21. For his service in the war, Prince was given a small plot of land upon which he, his brother, and his wife built a house. In time, they converted the house into the Ladies Charitable African School to teach young children. Prince Whipple died on November 21, 1796, at the age of 46 and is buried with his wife and at least one daughter and a granddaughter near the tomb of his former owner at North Cemetery in Portsmouth, N.H.
Prince’s legacy during the Revolution did not go unnoticed among artists. Not only is he depicted in artist Emanuel Leutze’s iconic 1851 painting of Washington crossing the Delaware, but Prince found himself added to another famous painting. In 1819, American painter Thomas Sully created a painting of the Battle of Trenton depicting Washington on a white horse around three white officers and a Black man. The Black soldier in the painting is dressed in red clothing speaking to an officer. The man in this picture is confirmed to be Prince Whipple as Sully had heard about Prince and incorporated him into his painting.
Forty-three years after Sully’s painting (75 after Leutze’s) the promise of the Declaration of Independence had become a sham in the United States but remained an idyllic inspiration to revolutionaries in other countries. When Leutze’s painting arrived in the U.S. in 1851, the conflict of a slave system within a society founded on freedom and basic human rights was simmering to a boiling point. The Abolitionist movement looked for examples of American history that would remind their fellow citizens of the promise of the Declaration of Independence.
Enter Oliver Cromwell, another largely forgotten African-American soldier from the Revolutionary War. However, unlike Whipple, Cromwell was born a free black man on May 24, 1752, in Black Horse in Burlington County, New Jersey. He was considered “half-white” and raised a farmer by the family of John Hutchin, who was his maternal uncle. At the time of Cromwell’s birth, Burlington had the largest number of free African-Americans in New Jersey, mostly attributable to its large Quaker population. Quaker religious doctrine demanded their slaves be educated and ultimately given their freedom. Like his neighbor citizens, patriotism inspired Cromwell to fight for his country.
Private Cromwell served in the 2nd New Jersey Continental Regiment, seeing action in nearly every major battle of the Revolutionary War’s northern campaign. He crossed the Delaware with Washington and fought in the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. At Trenton, he went from house to house silencing Hessian snipers, fired across the Assunpink Bridge at Hessian soldiers, and captured others at gunpoint. After the battle, he remained with the Hessian prisoners as they were escorted to Pennsylvania. Cromwell returned from prisoner duty in time for the Battle of Princeton.
He wintered at Valley Forge. At Yorktown, he stormed redoubt number ten and is reported to have seen the last man killed at that decisive battle. He fought at Brandywine Creek, Germantown, Monmouth, Short Hills, and was wounded at Springfield. He spent six years and nine months in New Jersey’s 2nd Regiment. Like Prince Whipple, Oliver Cromwell was immortalized in Emmanuel Leutze’s 1851 painting. He is depicted in the bow of the boat, just behind and to the right of Whipple. Cromwell, his back arched and straining at the oar, wears a dark hat and red cuffs.
Oliver Cromwell served for the duration of the war, at a time when thousands of white Americans refused to enlist at all. When Cromwell left the army, Commander-in-Chief George Washington personally signed his discharge papers and awarded him the Badge of Merit, citing his military discipline, his superior personal conduct, dedication, and sacrifice. After returning to Burlington, Cromwell and his descendants took an active role in the Underground Railroad, assisting runaway slaves in their escape to freedom.
Some years after retirement, Cromwell applied for a veteran’s pension. He was denied. Not only that, his discharge papers and medal were taken from him by the government. Although he was unable to read or write, local lawyers, judges, and politicians came to his aid, and he was granted a pension of $96 a year. He purchased a 100-acre farm outside Burlington, fathered 15 children, then spent his later years at his home at 114 East Union Street in Burlington. Oliver outlived eight of his children and died on January 24th, 1853 at 100 years of age.
As the final insult, his great grand-daughter, because of hers and her great-grandfather’s color, was not eligible to be a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Several of Oliver Cromwell’s descendants continue to reside in the Burlington region today. In 1984, the Oliver Cromwell Black History Society was formed in Burlington, NJ. Its purpose is to collect, preserve, and exhibit records, artifacts, and other documents that advance public understanding of African-American history. The organization works with schools, elected officials, private groups, non-profit organizations, and others to offer special educational programs to residents.
Prince Whipple and Oliver Cromwell are not alone when it comes to Black heroes of the Revolutionary War. There were many others, any one of which is praiseworthy: Crispus Attucks, Salem Poor, Colonel Tye, Phillis Wheatley, Peter Salem, James Armistead, and the entire First Rhode Island Regiment, our nation’s first integrated fighting unit. In 1776, America missed an opportunity on the road to independence. While the majority of Continental soldiers (some 96%) traced their ethnicity as English, Scots Irish, and Germanic, the remaining 4% included blacks, Native Americans, and Asian people. They fought. They didn’t dig latrines, they didn’t wash clothes, they didn’t cook food and they didn’t dig graves. Well, at least not any more than their fellow white soldiers did. For a short time, after the fighting ended, these men were recognized for their contribution. But within a generation, public opinion, mostly south of the Mason/Dixon line, changed and these “ethnic” fighters were forgotten. Yes, the Spirit of 76 missed a golden opportunity for change resulting in a battle for equality that continues to this day.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest books are “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View,” “Irvington Haunts. The Tour Guide,” and “The Mystery of the H.H. Holmes Collection.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
