The younger men here were enlisted soldiers or junior officers in 1776. They proved themselves during the Revolution, entered politics after the war, and became significant 10-20 years later in the early Republic. But they weren't important (yet) when the Declaration was signed.

@patfscott so they basically leveled up through the war then actually mattered in the 1790s, not 1776. the guys signing that doc were already established, these cats just had good timing and didn't die in the fighting