Button Gwinnett

Button Gwinnett (born c. 1735, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, Eng.—died May 16, 1777, St. Catherine’s Island, off Savannah, Ga., U.S.) was an American merchant, patriot, and signer of the Declaration of Independence, known chiefly because his autographs are of extreme rarity and collectors have forced their value to a high figure. (In 2001 one of his 36 autographs sold at public auction for $110,000.)

Gwinnett emigrated from England to Georgia sometime before 1765. In Savannah he pursued commercial interests as a trader and in 1769 was elected to the Georgia Commons House of Assembly. Suffering from financial distress, in 1773 he left political life. In January 1776, however, he reentered politics and was elected a delegate from Georgia to the Continental Congress and, as such, signed the Declaration. Returning to Georgia, Gwinnett was elected speaker of the provincial assembly and was a member of the convention to frame a new state constitution. In 1777 he was appointed acting president and commander in chief in Georgia after his predecessor, Archibald Bulloch, died. He then was unsuccessful in his attempt to win election as governor of Georgia. He died from wounds received in a duel with Lachlan McIntosh, a Continental general, whose brother Gwinnett had arrested.