Arthur Middleton (1742–1787)

Arthur Middleton was a wealthy South Carolina planter and radical patriot who was educated at Cambridge and the Middle Temple in London. Upon returning to his estate, Middleton Stables, he became a leader in the revolutionary movement and a member of the Council of Safety. He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1776, where he signed the Declaration of Independence and advocated for a vigorous defense of the Southern colonies. During the Siege of Charleston in 1780, he served in the militia but was captured by British forces and held as a prisoner of war in St. Augustine, Florida. Though he was eventually released and returned to public service, his health never fully recovered from the hardships of imprisonment, and he died at the age of 44.