Matthew Thornton was a New Hampshire physician and soldier who signed the Declaration of Independence in November 1776. He fled an Indian attack as a child, practiced medicine in Londonderry, commanded militia, and presided over the Provincial Congress after the governor fled. He later served as judge and senator.
Chapters
Well met friend. I am Matthew Thornton. Physician, soldier, legislator, son of Ireland, but pledged to the cause of American liberty. When I was but a boy of eight, my family fled the flames of an Indian attack in Maine, paddling by canoe to safety in Massachusetts. From such wild beginnings, I pursued the healing arts, apprenticed in medicine, and made my name tending to the folk of Londonderry, New Hampshire. In time, war called me to sterner duties. I served as surgeon to the New Hampshire militia in the expedition to Lewisburg and rose to colonel thereafter. Yet it was not with the sword alone that I served. I was chosen President of our Provincial Congress when Royal Governor Wentworth fled. We in New Hampshire were the first to form a new constitution in defiance of the Crown. Though I arrived in Congress after the vote was cast, I affixed my name to the Declaration of Independence in November of 76, an honour, though delayed, that I held most sacred. I had long warned my countrymen of the tyranny of Parliament and called them to arms when British cruelty spilled innocent blood. I spent my years afterward in service still as judge, senator and humble farmer on the banks of the Merrimac. They say I was tall and sharp of eye, with wit enough to make children laugh and elders pause. But let them say this above all, that I was true to my country, an honest man that carved on my stone. I pray God found it so.
