4 JUL 2011 - 1526 CDT


Here is a history lesson you may not have heard before...


Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 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 serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two
sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the
Revolutionary War.

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

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.

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 gristmill were
laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves,
returning 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.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British
General Cornwallis 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.

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 valued liberty
more.  Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the
support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the
divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our
fortunes, and our sacred honor."

They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books
never told you a lot of what happened in the Revolutionary War.  We
didn't just fight the British.  We were British subjects at that time
and we fought our own government!

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted... We shouldn't.

Let's all remember that freedom is never free!

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