Whipple, Henry Benjamin (1822–1901)

US Episcopal bishop and American Indian advocate. Ordained in 1850 after a brief career as a merchant, he held rectorships in New York, Florida, and Illinois, before becoming Episcopal bishop of Minnesota in 1859. He established missions among the American Indian peoples, who called him Straight Tongue, and spoke out for more civilized treatment of them. After the 1862 uprising of the Minnesota Sioux, he convinced President Abraham Lincoln to commute death sentences of more than 300 Sioux (although 38 were still hanged). In his last years he was presiding bishop of the American Episcopal Church. Whipple was born in Adams, New York.