Celebration of Liberty

THE LIVES OF THE SIGNERS - THE REST OF THE STORY:

Francis Lewis from Long Island paid dearly for his courage. He lost everything - his family and his property. His home was ransacked and looted, his wife imprisoned and died shortly after, and his son died in British captivity.

Colonel Thomas McKean of Delaware spent years trying to avoid capture. He wrote John Adams that he was, “hunted like a fox by the enemy - compelled to remove my family five times in a few months and at last fixed them in a little log house on the banks of the Susquehanna...and they were soon obliged to move again on account of the incursion of the Indians.”

William Ellery was from Rhode Island. By signing the Declaration of Independence, his home was burned to the ground.

Shortly after signing the Declaration of Independence, John Hart was elected to the new State Assembly and chosen its Speaker. When Hart left Philadelphia to take his seat in the state legislature at Princeton, he was besieged in his farmhouse during the British invasion of New Jersey. His thirteen children fled for their lives. His fields and his property were ruined. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, where he existed as a fugitive. Hart never lost his spirit and joined Washington's army as a private after the battle of Princeton.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader saw just about every shipping vessel in which he held an interest sunk or captured by the British during the Revolutionary War. During the war, he had loaned part of his wealth to support the war. The losses eventually resulted in great debt. As his debt grew, Braxton was forced to sell off his vast land holdings and the debts due him became worthless on account of the depreciation of the currency. In 1786, he was forced to leave his estate. Many of the plantations he had acquired over time were also ruined by enemy forces.

Lewis Morris was on hand to sign the Declaration of Independence, even though he knew that a large British army had landed within a few miles of his estate and that his extensive possessions would probably be ruined. "Damn the consequences, give me the pen," Morris is said to have shouted. Soon after, his house was ransacked, his family driven away, his livestock captured and the entire property destroyed. All of the Morris property and nearly all of his wealth had been destroyed in the war.

In December 1776, George Clymer risking capture by the British along with Walton and Morris remained behind to carry on remaining congressional business when the members of Congress were forced to flee from Philadelphia to Baltimore. After the British victory at the Battle of Brandywine, British troops advancing on Philadelphia detoured for the purpose of vandalizing Clymer's home. His wife and children escaped by hiding in the woods nearby.

In 1763, John Hancock had inherited what was believed to be the greatest body of wealth in New England when his uncle died. He was a marked man by the British, who had attempted to arrest him many times before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. John Hancock was the first to sign his name to the document. He risked his fortune in the struggle for independence and performed valuable services for his country during the Revolutionary War. He used his wealth to arm and feed much of the volunteers from Massachusetts.

Arthur Middleton's property was looted and most of his fortune was destroyed. Middleton owned a valuable collection of paintings that were destroyed. His family escaped before the British arrived. Middleton was active in the defense of Charleston in 1780. With several others he was taken prisoner, and was sent by sea to St. Augustine, where he was kept in confinement for nearly a year.

During the Revolutionary War, Lyman Hall was accused of high treason by the British and had both his Savannah houses burned by the British. His family managed to escape to the north, later joining him in Philadelphia.

During the War, the British tried, but were unable to capture William Hooper or harm his family. They did; however, torch his estate and leave his property completely devastated. Hooper fled the British, going from friend to friend.

During the War, a party of Hessians invaded the residence of Francis Hopkinson in Bordentown. His family only had time to escape with their lives before the invaders destroyed his home. Hopkinson's library contained the most distinguished books of the times as well as a collection of scientific equipment.

William Williams abandoned his business and went from house to house soliciting private donations to supply the army. Williams also made frequent speeches to get others to join the cause. Throughout the war, his house was open to the soldiers.

Thomas Nelson not only lent all of his wealth to the cause and was never repaid, but lost his property as well. He raised $2 million to supply our French allies by offering his property as collateral. He was never reimbursed and he was unable to repay the note when it came due – wiping out his entire estate. During the famous battle of Yorktown, British General Charles Cornwallis was using Nelson’s home as Tory headquarters. As Revolutionary cannons pummeled the town, Nelson noticed his home wasn’t being targeted. He asked, “Why do you spare my home?” The gunners replied, “Sire, out of respect to you.” Nelson then shouted, “Give me the cannon!” He fired on his stately home, blowing it to bits.

The British invaded New Jersey and Judge Richard Stockton rushed home and moved his family to the home of a friend thirty miles from Princeton. He was captured there November 30, 1776 by loyalists in the dead of night, drug from his bed and marched in freezing weather clad only in a nightshirt and breeches. He was turned over to the British and jailed in Perth Amboy first, then sent on to prison in New York. The darkest days of his life were spent locked in irons, starving and shivering in the cold winter of 1776-77 in the notorious Provost prison in New York City. Conditions were horrific in prison where over 12,000 men died in prison ships and prisons in New York compared with 4,435 battle casualties during the entire war.

On January 3, 1777 General George Washington was directed by Congress to protest against “the shocking and inhuman treatment” of the honorable Richard Stockton to General William Howe. Stockton was given a parole by General Howe in mid January, requiring him to no longer participate in the war effort as was common on both sides. Stockton was sick and near death when he returned home. A week later Stockton’s son-in-law and fellow signer Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote “At Princeton I met my wife’s father who had been plundered of all his household furniture and stock by the British army, and carried a prisoner to New York, from whence he was permitted to return to his family upon parole.”

Stockton’s home “Morven” had been occupied by British General Cornwallis. Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote: “The whole of Mr. Stockton’s furniture, apparel, and even valuable writings have been burnt. All his cattle, horses, hogs, sheep, grain and forage have been carried away by them. His losses cannot amount to less than five thousand pounds.” Stockton’s library one of the finest in the colonies was burned and he was forced to accept help from his family and friends to survive. Because of Stockton’s poor health and the parole requiring him not to participate in the war effort he resigned from Congress. Dr. Rush wrote that it took Stockton nearly two years to recover his health.

Nathan Hale by Glenn Rawson, Copyright 2005, All Rights Reserved