Cold Hard Facts

Have you ever wondered what became of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence?

5 were captured by the British as traitors and were tortured to death.

12 had their homes ransacked and burned.

2 lost their sons who were serving in the Continental Army.

Another had 2 sons captured.

9 of the 56 fought and died from wounds and/or hardship which resulted from the war.

They signed and pledged their lives, their fortunes and their honor.

What kind of men were they?

24 were lawyers and jurists. 11 were merchants. 9 were farmers and plantation owners,

men of means and well educated.

They signed the Declaration knowing full-well that the penalty would be death if 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 poverty. ThomasMcKeam was so hounded by the British that he

was forced to move his family repeatedly. He served in the Continental

Congress without compensation and poverty was his reward. Vandals or soldiers

looted the properties of Dollery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward,

Rutledge and Middleton. At the Battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson,Jr. noted

that the British General, Cornwallis, had confiscated his home for his

headquarters. He asked General George Washington to attack the Cornwallis

headquarters. The home was ultimately destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The British jailed his

wife and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his home

where he was at 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 in caves, returning home finally to find

his wife dead and his children vanished. Just weeks later he died of

exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices after the American Revolution. These men

were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians, They were soft-spoken men of

education and means. They had security but they valued their liberty more.

Standing tall and unwavering, they pledged, "For the support of this

Declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we

mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."

They gave us a free and independent America. The history books never told us

much of what actually happened in the war.They didn't fight just the British.

They were British subjects at the time and they fought their own government!

Some of us take these liberties very much for granted but we must not.

Prayers of thanks for these patriots are appopriate during the Independence Day

holiday because of the horrible price they paid.

We must remember that freedom is never free.

Thanks Dad