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, all, Clymer, Walton,
Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

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.

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.