Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the
Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the
British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked
and burned.
Two lost their sons serving in
the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died
from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They
signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred
honor. What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.
Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men
of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence
knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a
wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the
British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died
in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by
the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He
served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His
possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the
properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge,
and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas
Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the
Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George
Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and
properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few
months.
John Hart was driven from his
wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives.
His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he
lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his
children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken
heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered
similar fates.
Such
were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not
wild eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and
education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.
Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of
this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine
providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and
our sacred honor." They gave you and me a free and independent America.
The history books never told you a lot of what happened in the
Revolutionary War. We didn't just fight the British. We were British
subjects at that time and we fought our own government! Some of us take
these liberties so much for granted... We shouldn't.
The above quote is from The Rebirth of
America, copyright 1986, published by the Arthur S. Demoss Foundation.
I found the text at Mary's Little Lamb.
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