This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------A164D3966759F0B772162FCC Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cliff, here's a real eye opener for you! How many of us today would have sacrificed what these men did? Billy Bob --------------A164D3966759F0B772162FCC Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Received: from bl-11.rootsweb.com (bl-11.rootsweb.com [204.212.38.27]) by deliver.usit.net (8.9.2/8.9.2) with ESMTP id LAA11023; Sun, 4 Jul 1999 11:25:29 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from slist@localhost) by bl-11.rootsweb.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) id IAA14854; Sun, 4 Jul 1999 08:21:38 -0700 (PDT) Resent-Date: Sun, 4 Jul 1999 08:21:38 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <00a101bec631$23ea3000$c7e1490c@stupid> From: "Juliane" <heymom1@worldnet.att.net> Old-To: "Andersonville Prison" <ANDERSONVILLE-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Sun, 4 Jul 1999 10:23:14 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.5 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 Subject: [TNWEAKLE-L] Fw: Independence Resent-Message-ID: <ztVY_C.A.KnD._v3f3@bl-11.rootsweb.com> To: TNWEAKLE-L@rootsweb.com Resent-From: TNWEAKLE-L@rootsweb.com X-Mailing-List: <TNWEAKLE-L@rootsweb.com> archive/latest/3365 X-Loop: TNWEAKLE-L@rootsweb.com Precedence: list Resent-Sender: TNWEAKLE-L-request@rootsweb.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" A look backward into history....Happy Independence Day! THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE Few Americans are aware of the tremendous sacrifices made by the brave and selfless men who signed the Declaration of Independence. Have you ever wondered what happened to those men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Five signers were captured by British as traitors and were tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked or burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary army. Another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or the hardships of war. 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 and well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence, knowing full well the penalty would be death if they were captured. They signed and pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in rags. Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in Congress without pay and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken and poverty was his reward. Vandals or soldiers or both looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Hetward, Rutledge and Middleton. Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, after which she died within a few months. At the Battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. The owner quickly urged General Washington to open fire on the dwelling. The home was destroyed. Nelson died a bankrupt man. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and grist mill were laid waste. For more than a year, he lived in the forests and in caves, returning home after the war to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Morris 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 valued liberty more. They pledged: "For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor." --------------A164D3966759F0B772162FCC--