Button Gwinnett (/ɡwɪˈnɛt/ gwin-ET; March 3, 1735 – May 19, 1777) was a British-born American Founding Father who, as a representative of Georgia to the Continental Congress, was one of the signers (first signature on the left) of the United States Declaration of Independence.

[2][3] Gwinnett was killed in a duel by rival Lachlan McIntosh following a dispute after a failed invasion of East Florida.

He started his career apprenticed to his uncle William Gwinnett, a greengrocer in Gloucester, then moved to Wolverhampton in Staffordshire in 1754 after obtaining a further apprenticeship with an ironmonger there named John Weston Smith.

When that venture failed, he bought (on credit) St. Catherine's Island,[5] as well as a large number of slaves,[6] in order to attempt to become a planter.

During his tenure in the Assembly, Gwinnett's chief rival was Lachlan McIntosh, and Lyman Hall was his closest ally.

After signing the Declaration, he was accompanied as far as Virginia by Carter Braxton, another of the signers, carrying a proposed state constitution drawn up by John Adams.

[11] Gwinnett then challenged McIntosh to a duel, which they fought on May 16, 1777, at a plantation owned by deposed Royal Governor James Wright.

The sale of a document containing Gwinnett's signature was part of the plot in a 1971 Mannix episode, "A Button for General D."[23] During a media tour to promote his musical, Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda performed a parody musical called “Button!” on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

[24] The 2008 action role-playing game Fallout 3 features a powdered wig-wearing robot inside the National Archives Building that believes itself to be Button Gwinnett, guarding the Declaration of Independence.

In the side quest "Stealing Independence", the player can either take the declaration, optionally destroying the robot in the process, or help it and forge a copy.