Gwinnett, Button

Gwinnett, Button, c.1735–1777, American political figure, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Gloucestershire, England. Emigrating to America, he became a Georgia planter and merchant. In 1776–77, he was a Georgia delegate to the Continental Congress. He was briefly president (governor) of Georgia in 1777, but was killed in a duel by Lachlan McIntosh, a personal and political rival.

See biography by C. F. Jenkins (1926).

See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. History: Biographies