Executive Director's Message

Declaration Signers What Happened to Them?

Each year we celebrate the 4th of July, and our country's independence. I don't think it has ever meant more than it does today with the threats of terror and attacks on our homeland.

The PCMS recently held their strategic planning meeting. It took hours for the Executive Council to discuss all of the suggestions made by members on how the society should go forward, planning for the next five years. The council was committed to continuing the legacy of PCMS as the best medical society for physicians and their patients. After two lengthy meetings, the PCMS now has a new mission and five-yearplan, some of which you will see in this issue of The Bulletin.

Now, that was just one medical society we were discussing, in one central region of a state. Can you imagine what it must have been like for the men who signed the Declaration of Independence? They were deciding on a plan for the entire country. The time and courage it took, not knowing if it would stand the test of time, these brave men made a commitment to our country and signed a Declaration of Independence.

Although some of the signers we know much about, many we do not. So, I thought you might enjoy knowing what happened to them. 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 serving in the Revolutionary Anny, another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

These men who provided our country with declaring independence signed and pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they? Twenty- four were lawyers and ju- rists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of lndependence 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 looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Comwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He 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 to waste. For more than a year, he lived in forests and caves, return- ing 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 val- ued liberty more. Standing, talk straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm re1iance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." And so, these men of wisdom gave you and me a free and independent America!