People

New Hampshire physician and statesman who cast the first delegate vote for independence on July 2, 1776, and signed the Declaration. Served as the state's chief executive. His political network ran through Exeter.

Portsmouth merchant and shipbuilder who personally financed the equipping of NH troops for the Saratoga campaign using his own credit, coordinated with the Exeter government. Oversaw construction of the Ranger in Portsmouth. Later became governor and a U.S. Senator.

Exeter merchant who founded Phillips Exeter Academy in 1781, endowing it with a republican civic mission. His founding deed explicitly connected education to citizens' capacity for self-governance in the new republic.

Exeter-born officer who served in the Continental Army, represented New Hampshire in the Continental Congress, and signed the Constitution in 1787. His father Nicholas Gilman Sr. served as state treasurer during the war, making the Gilman house an administrative hub of New Hampshire's revolutionary government.

New Hampshire military and political leader who served as a delegate to both Continental Congresses and commanded NH militia. His political and military careers centered on Exeter and the Squamscott River region.

New Hampshire merchant and statesman who signed the Declaration and commanded NH forces at Saratoga. He later freed his enslaved manservant Prince Whipple, reportedly moved by the contradiction between fighting for liberty and holding another man in bondage.

The last royal governor of New Hampshire, whose flight to HMS Scarborough in August 1775 created the governmental vacuum that Exeter's Patriot institutions filled. His departure ended 150 years of Wentworth family dominance of New Hampshire politics.

New Hampshire's indispensable revolutionary administrator. He served simultaneously as president of the Committee of Safety, chief justice of the Superior Court, and first elected state president. His administrative competence kept the Patriot government functioning throughout the war from Exeter.