The Price They Paid...
(Author Unknown)
Have you ever wondered what happened to those 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.
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.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their
sacred honor.
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, Rutledge, 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, which was done. 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 after the war to find his wife dead, his children vanished. A few
weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.
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