USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > History of Independence Hall : from the earliest period to the present time : embracing biographies of the immortal signers of the Declaration of Independence, with historical sketches of the sacred relics preserved in that sanctuary of American freedom > Part 21
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* His wife died at the time of the birth of her second child, when she was not quite twenty-one years of age.
t Mr. Braxton had a large family by his second wife. She was the mother of sixteen children.
# The eloquence of Henry on that occasion, fell like suc- cessive thunderbolts on the ears of the timid Assembly. "It was in the midst of the magnificent debate on these resolutions," says Mr. Wirt, " while he was descanting on the tyranny of the obnoxious Act, that he exclaimed, in a voice of thunder, and with the look of a god-' Cæsar had his Brutus, Charles the
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tion iu 1769, when Lord Botetourt, one of the best disposed royal governors that ever ruled in Virginia, suddenly dissolved it, in consequence of some acts therein which he deemed treasonable. Mr. Braxton was one of the members who immediately retired to a private room and signed a non-importation agreement. Lord Botetourt died toward the close of 1770, and was succeeded by Lord Dunmore, a man of very defective judgment and unyielding disposition, whose unpop- ular management greatly increased the spirit of oppo- sition to royal misrule in Virginia. During the in- terval between the death of Botetourt and the arrival of Dunmore, Mr. Braxton held the office of high sheriff of the county where he resided, but he refused to hold it under the new governor. He was one of the eighty- nine members of the Assembly who, on the dissolution thereof by Governor Dunmore, in the summer of 1774, recommended a general convention of the people of Virginia, to meet at Williamsburg. They did so, and elected delegates to the Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia on the fourth of the month follow- ing. Mr. Braxton was a member of that convention. When, in 1777, the attempt of Lord Dunmore to take the ammunition from the public magazines on board the Fowey ship-of-war, then lying off Williamsburg, excited the people to the highest pitch, and threatened
First his Cromwell-and George the Third'-' Treason !' cried the Speaker-' Treason, treason,' echoed from every part of the House. It was one of those trying moments which are decisive of character. Henry faltered not for an instant ; but rising to a loftier altitude, and fixing on the Speaker an eye of the most determined fire, he finished the sentence with the firmest em- phasis-' and George the Third-may profit by their example. If that be treason, make the most of it.' "
27*
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open rebellion and armed resistance,* Mr. Braxton, by a wise and prudent course, succeeded in quelling the disturbance, and in bringing about such an arrange- ment as quite satisfied the people, and probably saved the town from destruction.+ In December, 1775, he was chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Peyton Randolph. He took an active part in favor of inde- pendence, and voted for and signed the Declaration. He remained in Congress during only one session, and then resumed his seat in the Virginia Legislature, where he continued with but little interruption, until 1785. In 1786 he was appointed a member of the council of the State, and held that station until 1791. He was elected to the same office in 1794, where he continued until within four days of his death. This event, which was occasioned by paralysis, occurred on the tenth day of October, 1797, when he was in the sixty-first year of his age.
* Patrick Henry put himself at the head of a military com- pany, and marched toward Williamsburg, to demand from Lord Dunmore the return of the powder. His company rapidly aug- mented in numbers as he approached the town, and he entered it at the head of an overwhelming force. The governor, finding resistance vain, finally agreed to pay for the powder, and was then allowed quietly to retire with his family on board the ship- of-war in the river.
t The captain of the Fowey had declared his intention to fire upon and destroy the town, if the governor should experience any personal violence, and he placed the broadside of his vessel parallel with the shore, and shotted his guns for the purpose.
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CHAPTER XXXV.
EDWARD RUTLEDGE -THOMAS HAYWARD-THOMAS LYNCH, JR .- ARTHUR MIDDLETON.
EDWARD RUTLEDGE, whose name we find first among the patriotic delegates from South Carolina who signed the Declaration of Independence, was born at Charleston, in November, 1749, and was the youngest of a family of seven children. After re- ceiving a good English and classical education, young Rutledge commenced the study of law with his elder brother, John, who was then a distinguished member of the Charleston bar. As a finishing stroke in his legal education, preparatory to his admission to the bar, he was sent to England at the age of twenty, and entered as a student at the Inner Temple, London, where he had an opportunity of witnessing the foren- sic eloquence of those master spirits of the times, Mansfield, Wedderburn, Thurlow, Dunning, Chatham, and Camden. He returned to Charleston about the close of 1772, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice early in 1773. Mr. Rutledge, though young, had watched with much interest the political move- ments of the day, and when old enough to act as well as think, he took a decisive stand on the side of the patriots. This, together with the distinguished talents which he manifested on his first appearance at the
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bar, drew toward him the attention of the public mind, when the Massachusetts Circular aroused the people to vigorous action. Although then only twenty-five years of age, the Convention of South Carolina elected him a delegate to the first General Congress, and he was present at the opening, on the fifth of September, 1774. There he was active and fearless, and receiving the entire approbation of his constituents, he was re- elected in 1775, and 1776; and when, preparatory to the consideration of the subject of absolute indepen- dence, Congress, by resolution, recommended the several Colonies to form permanent governments, Mr. Rutledge was associated with Richard Henry Lee and John Adams, in preparing the prefatory preamble to the recommendation. He was warmly in favor of independence, and fearlessly voted for the Declaration, notwithstanding there were large numbers of people in his State opposed to it, some through timidity, some through self-interest, and some through decided attach- ment to the royal cause. When, during the summer of 1776, Lord Howe came commissioned to prosecute the war or negotiate for peace, Mr. Rutledge was ap- pointed one of a committee with Dr. Franklin and John Adams, to meet him in conference upon Staten Island. The commissioners were instructed not to enter upon negotiations for peace, except in the capa- city of representatives of free States, and having inde- pendence as a basis. As Lord Howe could not thus receive them, or listen to such proposals, the confer- ence, as was anticipated, failed to produce any im- portant results. Mr. Rutledge took up arms, and was placed at the head of a corps of artillery. In 1780, while Charleston was invested by the enemy, he was
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active in affording succor to General Lincoln, then within the besieged city. In one of these operations, in attempting to throw troops into the city, he was taken prisoner, and was afterward sent captive to St. Augustine in Florida. He remained a prisoner nearly a year, and was then exchanged and set at liberty. It was a gloomy time for the patriots, and the stoutest hearts began to quail. The bulk of the southern army, under Lincoln, had been made prisoners. But still hope did not quite expire, and the successes of Greene, and the victories of Marion and Sumpter, re- animated the fainting hearts of the republicans. After the British evacuated Charleston in 1781, Mr. Rut- ledge retired, and resumed the practice of his pro- fession ; and for about seventeen years, his time was alternately employed in the duties of his business and service in the Legislature of his State. In the latter capacity he uniformly opposed every proposition for extending the evils of slavery. In 1794, Mr. Rut- ledge was elected to the United States Senate, to sup- ply the vacancy caused by the resignation of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney; and in 1798, he was elected Governor of his native State. But he did not live to serve out his official term. He had suffered much from hereditary gout, and on returning to Charleston after the adjournment of the Legislature, which sat at Columbia, he caught a severe cold, that brought on a paroxysm of his disease and terminated his life on the twenty-third day of January, in the year 1800. He was in the sixtieth year of his age.
THOMAS HAYWARD was born in St. Luke's parish, South Carolina, in the year 1746. His father, Colonel Dame Hayward was one of the wealthiest planters in
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the Province, and fully appreciating the advantages of education, he placed his son Thomas in the best classical school in that region. He was a thoughtful and industrious student ; and so readily did he master the Latin, that he read with fluency the works of the Roman historians and poets, in that language. As soon as young Hayward had completed his prepara- tory studies, he entered as a student the law office of Mr. Parsons, a barrister of considerable eminence in South Carolina, at that time. Having accomplished his task well, his father sent him to England at the age of about twenty years, to finish his legal educa- tion there. While in England, Mr. Hayward became deeply impressed with the injustice of the prevailing feeling there, that a colonial British subject was quite inferior to the native-born Englishman, and should be treated as such. Such was the sentiment of society, and upon this sentiment the government seemed to act, by appointing to office in the colonies few but natives of the British Islands; and in its carelessness of the rights and privileges of the colonists, they were not equally protected by the broad ægis of the British Constitution. These things, even at that early age, alienated his affection from the mother country, and he returned to his native land with mortified feel- ings, and a heartfelt desire to free it from the bondage of transatlantic rule. Soon after his return, Mr. Hay- ward entered upon the practice of his profession. He married a most amiable and accomplished young lady, named Matthews; and with a sedateness and energy of purpose, rare at his age, he commenced his career of usefulness. He was among the earliest in South Carolina who resisted the oppressive measures of the
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Home Government, and from the passage of the Stamp Act until the battle of Lexington, he consistently and zealously promoted the patriot cause, ever repudiating the degrading terms of conciliation-absolute submis- sion-which the British Government demanded. The openness and manly frankness with which he espoused the patriot cause, made him a leader in the revolu- tionary movements in that Province, and he was placed in the first General Assembly, that organized after the abdication of the colonial governor. He was also appointed a member of the first "Committee of Safety" there. In 1775, Mr. Hayward was chosen a delegate to the General Congress. He at first modestly declined the honor, but being waited upon personally by a deputation of the people, he complied, and took his seat early in 1776. He warmly supported Mr. Lee's motion for absolution from British rule, when brought forward in June of that year, and he joyfully voted for and signed the Declaration of Independence. He remained in Congress until 1778, when he ac- cepted the appointment of Judge of the criminal and civil courts of South Carolina. This acceptance, and his previous offense in signing the Declaration, made him very obnoxious to the enemy, and great efforts were made, through the treacherous tories, to get pos- session of his person. Mr. Hayward held a military commission while he was Judge, and he was in active service, with Edward Rutledge, in the skirmish with the enemy at Beaufort, in 1780. In that skirmish he received a gun-shot wound, which scarred him for life. When, soon after, Charleston was captured by Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Arbuthnot, Mr. Hayward was taken prisoner, and it was generally believed that
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he would be excluded from the terms of capitulation, as an arch-traitor. This, however, was not the case, and he was sent, with Mr. Rutledge and others, to St. Augustine, in Florida, where he remained nearly a year. On his return to South Carolina, Judge Hay- ward resumed his seat upon the bench, and was ac- tively engaged in his judicial duties until 1798. He was a member of the convention of his State, which framed its constitution in 1790. Having again mar- ried an amiable lady, by the name of Savage, he coveted the retirement and happiness of domestic lifc, from which he had been so long an exile; and in 1799 he withdrew entirely from public life, and in the bosom of his family he bore the honor which a nation's gratitude conferred, and there calmly awaited the summons for another world. His death took place in March, 1809, when he was sixty-three years of age.
THOMAS LYNCH, JUNIOR, was born in Prince George's parish, upon the North Santee River, South Carolina, on the fifth day of August, 1749. He was sent to England, to be educated, at the age of thirteen years. He had previously received a good academical education, at Georgetown, in South Carolina. In Eu- gland he was placed in Eton School, that seminary of preparation for higher instruction, in which, for a long period, many eminent men were educated. After completing his preparatory studies there, he entered the University of Cambridge, where he took his de- gree, and he left the institution bearing the highest respect of the tutors, because of his studious and vir- tuous career while there. On leaving Cambridge, young Lynch entered upon the study of the law in
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one of the inns of the Temple, where, by close appli- cation, he became a finished lawyer at the close of his studies. He there became acquainted with some of the leading politicians of the day, and acquired a pretty thorough knowledge of the movements of the government. And when he heard the murmur of dis- content come from his native land, and listened to the haughty tone of British statesmen, when speaking of the Colonies, he felt an irrepressible desire to return home. He obtained permission of his father, and reached South Carolina in 1772. He soon afterward married a beautiful young lady, named Shubrick, be- tween whom and himself a mutual attachment had existed from childhood. This tender relation and the possession of an ample fortune, were calculated to wed him to the ease and enjoyments of domestic life; but young Lynch had caught the spirit of his patriotic father, and he stood up, like a strong young oak, to breast the storm of the Revolution, then gathering black on every side. Mr. Lynch's first appearance in public life, was at a town-meeting called in Charleston in 1773, to consider the injuries Great Britain was in- flicting on her colonies. He addressed the numerous assemblage with a patriotic eloquence that won their hearts, and the people at once looked upon him as an efficient instrument in working out the freedom of his country. They elected him by acclamation to many civil offices of trust; and when the first provincial regiment was raised in South Carolina, in 1775, a captain's commission was offered to Mr. Lynch, which he accepted. He raised a company and joined his regiment, but a few days afterward, intelligence reached him of the sudden and severe illness of
28
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his father from paralysis, at Philadelphia, and he asked permission to attend him. But Colonel Gads- den absolutely refused to grant the request, on the ground that no private consideration should interfere with public duty. But his filial yearnings were speedily gratified, for his father resigned his seat in Congress, and his son was immediately elected by the Provincial Assembly to fill it. He joyfully accepted it, and hastened to Philadelphia, where he took his seat in Congress, in 1776. He supported the propo- sition for Independence, and was one of the signers to the glorious declaration thereof. Mr. Lynch did not long remain in Congress, for the declining health of both himself and his father caused him to resign his seat and return home. They traveled slowly until they reached Annapolis, where his father had another paralytic stroke, which terminated his life. With a sad heart and debilitated frame, the bereaved son returned home. But the canker of disease was preying upon his vitals, and by the advice of physi- cians, he resolved to go to the south of Europe, with the faint hope, that restored health might be the result. It being perilous at that time to go in an American vessel, he sailed for the West Indies toward the close of 1779, with the expectation of finding a neutral vessel there, in which to embark for Europe. His affectionate wife accompanied him, but they never reached their destination. The vessel was supposed to have foundered at sea, and all on board perished, for it was never heard of afterward.
Thus, at the early age of thirty years, terminated . the life of one of that sacred band who pledged life, fortune and honor, in defence of American freedom.
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Like a brilliant meteor, he beamed with splendor for a short period, and suddenly vanished forever.
ARTHUR MIDDLETON was born at Middleton Place, the residence of his father, in South Carolina, in 1743. His father, Henry Middleton, was of English descent, and a wealthy planter, and he gave his son every opportunity for mental and moral culture which the Province afforded, until he arrived at a proper age to be sent to England for a thorough education. This was a prevailing custom among the men of wealth in the southern provinces, previous to the Revolution, and their sons consequently became political and social leaders, on account of their superior education. Arthur Middleton was sent to England, when he was about twelve years of age, and was placed in a school at Hackney.# At fourteen he was transferred to a school in Westminster, where he remained four years, and then entered the University at Cambridge. While there, he shunned the society of the gay and dissi- pated, and became a very close and thoughtful student. He remained at Cambridge four years, and at the age of twenty-two he graduated with distinguished honors. He carried with him, from that institution, the sincere respect and esteem of professors and students. Young Middleton remained in England some time after leav. ing Cambridge, for the two-fold purpose of self-im- provement and of forming acquaintances with the branch of his family that remained there. He then went to the continent, and for two years he traveled and made observations of men, and manners, and
* Several of the Southern members of Congress received their education at this school, preparatory to their entering the col- lege at Cambridge.
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things, in southern Europe. He passed several months at Rome, where his highly cultivated mind became thoroughly schooled in the theory of the fine arts, and made him proficient as a painter. Mr. Middleton returned to South Carolina, in 1768, and very soon afterward married an accomplished young lady, named Izard. About a year after this event, he took his young wife and made a second tour on the continent of Europe, and spent some time in England. They returned in 1773, and, by the indulgence of his father, he took the family seat for his residence. There in the possession of wealth and every domestic enjoy- ment, he had a bright prospect of worldly happiness. But even then the dark clouds of the Revolution were gathering, and in less than two years the storm burst upon the South, as well as all along the Atlantic sea- board, with great fury. Men could not remain neutral, for there was no middle course, and Arthur Middleton, and his father, laid their lives and fortunes upon the altar of patriotism. When the decision was made and the die was cast, Mr. Middleton laid aside domes- tic ease and entered at once upon active life. He was a member of one of the committees of safety of South Carolina, appointed by the Provincial Congress in 1775. In that body he was firm and unyielding in principle; and when, soon afterward, Lord William Campbell was appointed Governor, and it was dis- covered that he was acting with duplicity, Mr. Mid- dleton laid aside all private feeling, and recommended his immediate arrest .* The proposition was too bold
* Lord William Campbell was nearly related to Mr. Middle- ton's wife, and the greatest intimacy existed between the fami- lies. But private feelings and close ties of relationship had no
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to meet the views of the more timid majority of the committee, and the governor was allowed to flee from the State .* In the winter of 1776, Mr. Middleton was one of a committee appointed to form a govern- ment for South Carolina; and early in the spring of that year he was elected by the Provincial Legislature, a delegate to the General Congress, at Philadelphia. There he was an active promoter of the measures tending toward a severance of the Colonies from Great Britain, and voted for and signed the Declaration of Independence. By this patriotic act, he placed him- self in a position to lose life and property, should the contest prove unsuccessful, but these considerations had no weight with him. Mr. Middleton continued a member of Congress until the close of 1777, when he returned to South Carolina. In 1778, the Assembly adopted a State Constitution, and Arthur Middleton was elected first governor under it. Doubting the legality of the proceedings of the Assembly in framing the constitution, he declined the acceptance of the ap- pointment. When, in 1779, South Carolina was invaded by the British, Mr. Middleton's property was exposed to their ravages. Yet he heeded not the de- struction that was wrought, but joining Governor
weight in the scale against Mr. Middleton's convictions of duty, and he was among the first to recommend meetings to destroy the power of the governor.
* Had the proposition of Mr. Middleton been carried into effect, much bloodshed might have been saved in South Carolina, for Lord Campbell, after his flight, joined Sir Henry Clinton, and representing the Tory interest as very powerful in that State, induced that commander, in connection with the fleet of Sir Peter Parker, to ravage the coast and make an attack upon Charleston. In that engagement Lord Campbell was slain. 28*
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Rutledge in his attempts to defend the State, he left his estate entirely unprotected, and only wrote to his wife to remove with the family a day's journey from the scene of strife. In this invasion a large portion of his immense estate was sacrificed. The following year, after the surrender of Charleston to the British, he was one of the many influential men who were taken prisoners and sent to St. Augustine in Florida. There he remained about one year, and was then sent, as an exchanged prisoner, to Philadelphia. He was at once elected by the Assembly of South Carolina, a representative in Congress, and he remained there until November, 1782, when he returned to his family. He was a representative in his State Legislature until near the close of 1787, when disease removed him from his sphere of usefulness. By exposure he con- tracted an intermittent fever, which he neglected until it was too late to check its ravages upon his constitu- tion. He died on the first day of January, 1788. He left his wife a widow with eight children. She lived until 1814, and had the satisfaction of seeing her off- spring among the honored of the land.
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CHAPTER XXXVI.
BURTON GWINNETT-LYMAN HALL-GEORGE WALTON.
Bold and fearless in the contest, Struggled they for liberty.
BURTON GWINNETT was born in England, in 1732. The pecuniary means of his parents were limited, yet they managed to give him a good common education. He was apprenticed to a merchant in Bristol, and after completing his term of service, he married, and com- menced business on his own account. Allured by the promises of wealth and distinction in America, he re- solved to emigrate hither, and he arrived at Charleston, in South Carolina, in the year 1770. There he com- menced mercantile business, and after pursuing it for two years, he sold out his stock, moved to Georgia, and purchased large tracts of land on St. Catherine's Island in that province. He purchased a number of slaves, and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. Mr. Gwinnett favored the opposition of the Colonies to British oppression, to some degree ; yet he was one of those cautious, doubting men at that time, who viewed the success of the Colonies in an open rupture with the home government, as highly problematical. Therefore, when, in 1774, Georgia was solicited to unite her voice with the other Colonies in a General Congress, Mr. Gwinnett looked upon the proposition with disfavor, as one fraught with danger and many
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