Gwinnett, << gwih NEHT, >> Button (1735?-1777), a Georgia signer of the Declaration of Independence, served in the Georgia Assembly in 1769 and in the Continental Congress in 1776 and 1777. He was acting governor of Georgia for a brief period in 1777.
Gwinnett was born in Gloucestershire, England. He settled in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1765 and then moved to Savannah, Georgia. Later, he purchased St. Catherine’s Island, off the Georgia coast, and became a plantation owner. Gwinnett made many enemies because he was regarded as a latecomer by many older Georgians. He was killed in a duel with General Lachlan McIntosh on May 19, 1777. Their duel resulted from their rivalry for the post of brigadier general of troops raised in Georgia.
