BREVARD, Ephraim, patriot, born about 1750; died in Charlotte, North Carolina, about 1783. He was graduated at Princeton in 1768, studied medicine, and settled at Charlotte to practice. He sympathized with the movement for independence, and was secretary of the famous Mecklenburg convention of 31 May, 1775. He was one of the committee appointed to draft resolutions, and, in fact, the actual author of the "declaration," which anticipates by more than a year the formal Declaration of Independence by congress, though it was itself anticipated by several others that have not become so celebrated, notably that of Mendon, Massachusetts, in 1773. When the British invaded the southern states, Dr. Brevard and his six brothers entered the continental service. He was taken prisoner at Charleston in 1780, and when set at liberty was so broken by disease, incurred during confinement, that he died soon afterward. It is known that he was buried at Hopewell, but in the confusion of the time the grave was not marked, and it has never been identified. He was one of the most accomplished men of his time, and exerted a powerful influence in behalf of independence.