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 in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured. Nine of
the 56 fought and died from wounds or the 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 or both looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall,
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. The owner
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 grist mill were laid
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 a firm reliance on the protection of the Divine
Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and
our sacred honor."
We are their beneficiaries. Will what they bequeathed on us - a free and independent America - be taken from us without struggle?