06/26/2026
Celebrating the birthdays of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence!
Arthur Middleton
Born: 6/26/1742 in Charleston, SC
Age at the time of signing: 34
Died: 1/1/1787 at age 44
"In the possession of wealth & every domestic enjoyment, he had a bright prospect of worldly happiness. But even then the dark clouds of the Revolution were gathering. Men could not remain neutral, for there was no middle course, & Arthur Middleton, as well as his father, laid their lives & fortunes upon the altar of patriotism. When the decision was made & the die was cast, Mr Middleton laid aside domestic ease & entered at once upon active life.
[In signing the Declaration of Independence] he placed himself in a position to lose life & property, should the contest prove unsuccessful, but these considerations had no weight with him. When, in 1779, South Carolina was invaded by the British, Mr Middleton's property was exposed to their ravages. Yet he heeded not the destruction that was wrought, but joining Governor Rutledge in his attempts to defend the State, he left his estate entirely unprotected & 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 & sent to St Augustine in Florida. There he remained about one year, & was then sent, as an exchanged prisoner, to Philadelphia.
He was at once elected by the Assembly of South Carolina, a representative in Congress. He was a representative until near the close of 1787, when disease removed him from his sphere of usefulness. By exposure he contracted an intermittent fever, which he neglected until it was too late to check its ravages upon his constitution. He died & left his wife a widow of 8 children. She lived until 1814, & had the satisfaction of seeing her offspring among the honored of the land."
Sources:
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/signers-factsheet
Biographical Sketches of the Signers of the Declaration of American Independence by B.J. Lossing Published 1860
