Richard Stockton (1730–1781)

Richard Stockton was a prominent New Jersey attorney and trustee of Princeton University who initially sought a moderate path toward reconciliation with Great Britain. After realizing that compromise was impossible, he threw his full support behind the Patriot cause and signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Disaster struck shortly after the signing when he was betrayed by a Loyalist neighbor, dragged from his bed by British soldiers, and thrown into a brutal military prison. He was subjected to starvation and freezing temperatures, treatment that was specifically intended to break the spirit of a "rebel" signatory. Though he was eventually released in a prisoner exchange, the ordeal destroyed his health and fortune, leading to his death just months before the American victory at Yorktown.