Six Patriots: Victims of War

The Declaration of Independence was the Death Certificate of the American Colonies, and the Birth Certificate of the United States. Fifty-six men from thirteen colonies signed it on 4th July 1776. By any standards they were a remarkable bunch. Brilliant, dynamic and far-sighted, they set the United States on a road that led to the creation of the most prosperous and free nation in the world. Largely because of them, the revolution did not lead to dictatorship, and the new country retained most of the virtues of the old world, while discarding many of the vices.

Some of these men are well-known, others faded into obscurity. It’s tempting to talk about our more famous signers, but a handful of these remarkable men died in poverty and obscurity, and they should not be forgotten.

The Unfortunates

Carter Braxton

Carter Braxton was born to a wealthy family in Virginia. In 1760, after a visit to England, he was appointed as a representative of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He became convinced that the colonies should become independent and never wavered in that belief. He assumed a place in the Continental Congress in 1775. He donated much of his wealth to the war effort, loaning large sums of money that were not paid back, and financing shipping and privateering during the conflict. His ships were destroyed and he was forced to sell his lands and property. He died in poor circumstances at the age of 61.

John Hart

A contemporary portrait shows John Hart as a handsome, strong man, with the long flowing hair that was popular at the time. He was a self-made man, a successful New Jersey farmer who served in the New Jersey Assembly for ten years, then in the Continental Congress. During the war, the British looted his property, and he fled and remained in hiding for a year. He had to leave his ill wife while avoiding capture, and when he returned to his devastated farm, his wife was dead and his thirteen children had disappeared. He never found out what had happened to them. Later in the war, in 1778, he invited the American Army to encamp on his farm. Ten thousand men did so, during the growing season, destroying his crops. Hart died in 1779, at the age of 66, having lost his family and most of his wealth in support of the American cause.

Francis Lewis

Born in Wales, orphaned at an early age, Francis Lewis apprenticed to a merchant and became a businessman in London. At the age of twenty-one he came into an inheritance from his father and sailed to New York, setting foot in America in 1735. Quickly becoming a successful businessman, he traveled extensively in Europe. An adventurous man, he was shipwrecked twice, returned to North America and became involved in the war with the French in Canada. He was captured by Indians, but, remarkably, was treated well. He was a prisoner of war in France, and was freed in a prisoner exchange. Honored by the British for his services, he was nevertheless a staunch American patriot, becoming a delegate to provincial congress of New-York in 1775, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.