The Fifty-Six Men

What happened to the fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five of the 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 fifty-six men fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

Twenty-four of these men were lawyers and jurists; eleven were merchants; nine were farmers and large plantation owners. These were men of means and well educated. They signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well the penalty would be death if they were captured. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealth 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 property was his reward.

Vandals and soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr. noted the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to fire upon his home, which was 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 thirteen 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 the declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledged to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

They gave us a free America. The history books do not tell every story of what happened in the Revolutionary War, and a lot of good men’s sacrifices never got told, which happens even today. We did not fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time, and we fought our own government. These are the men we need to thank. Freedom is never free. We need along with our children know the sacrifices these men made, as well as, all our soldiers have made in our past wars. We need to know and never forget. Bonefish