From Irish birth and common schools, Matthew Thornton rose
To study medicine, become a surgeon, and keep the British on their toes.
"Dr. Thornton was greatly beloved by all who knew him, and to the close of his long life he was a consistent and zealous Christian. He always enjoyed remarkably good health, and by the practice of those hygeian virtues, temperance and cheerfulness, he attained a patriarchal age." B. J. Lossing, Signers of the Declaration of Independence, George F. Cooledge & Brother: New York (1848) [reprinted in Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, WallBuilder Press: Aledo, Texas (1995)], page 21.
In 1745, an expedition against Cape Breton was planned for which a corps of five hundred men was raised in New Hampshire. Dr. Thornton accompanied them as a surgeon. On the 1st of May, they marched through the woods, saluted the city of Louisburg, kept marching through the night to the northeast part of the harbour, where they burned enemy naval stores as well as French wine and brandy. The smoke swirled furiously as it was driven by the wind, terrifying the French to the point of abandonment to the city.
The next morning, Colonel Vaughan with only thirteen men discovered that the French had left. The area was empty. Thinking quickly, he sent a messenger to the commanding general with a note which read, "May it please your honour to be informed, that, by the grace of God, and the courage of thirteen men, I entered the royal battery about nine o'clock, and am waiting for a reinforcement and a flag." However, the French came back with a hundred men to retake it, unsuccessfully it turns out because the colonel held them off until his own reinforcements could arrive.
In Louisburg, there followed a long and fitful battle in the deep mud. Cannons were drawn by men with straps over their shoulders, sinking in the mud at every step, up to their knees. This continued for fourteen days until Louisburg was surrendered to our troops. Dr. Thornton was praised for his ability to keep most of them alive, only six out of the five hundred had died previous to the surrender of the city. Those six were among those who assisted in dragging the cannons.
Dr. Thornton became active in his community as a member of the New Hampshire legislature and adopted the cause of the colonists from the start. As injustices by the British continued, he addressed the citizens of New Hampshire as follows:"Friends and brethren, you must all be sensible that the affairs of America have, at length, come to a very affecting and alarming crisis. The horrors and distresses of a civil war, which, till of late, we only had in contemplation, we now find ourselves obliged to realize. Painful beyond expression, have been those scenes of blood and devastation which the barbarous cruelty of British troops have placed before our eyes. Duty to God, to ourselves, to posterity, ends forced by the cries of slaughtered innocents, have urged us to take up arms in our own defense. Such a day as this was never before known, either to us or to our fathers. You will give us leave, therefore, in whom you have reposed special confidence, as your representative body, to suggest a few things, which call for the serious attention of every one, who has the true interest of America at heart. We would, therefore, recommend to the colony at large, to cultivate that Christian union, harmony, and tender affection, which is the only foundation upon which our invaluable privileges can rest with any security, or our public measures be pursued with the least prospect of success."
He was elected to the Continental Congress after the debates on independence had occurred, arriving just in time to sign his name to the Declaration. He continued in public service until his age slowed him down.
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ht term of life of the author plus 70 years.
Dr. Thornton died in 1803 at 89 years old. Below is from the funeral sermon by Rev. Dr. Burnap:
"He was venerable for his age, and skill in his profession, and for the several very important and honourable offices he had sustained; noted for the knowledge he had acquired, and his quick penetration into matters of abstruse speculation; exemplary for his regard for the public institutions of religion, and for his constancy in attending the public worship, where he trod the courts of the house of God, with steps tottering with age arid infirmity. Such is a brief outline of one who was honoured in his day and generation; whose virtues were a model for imitation, and while memory does her office, will be had in grateful recollection."
http://www.constitutionfacts.com/index.cfm?section=declaration&page=aboutTheSigners.cfm
And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.
Numbers 10:9