His wife died while giving birth to his youngest daughter, Susan. The Martin family lived in South Carolina, where he built a small home on a farm. The Martin's were well known and liked by both Patriots and Whigs alike. They only hired freedmen. Benjamin enjoyed making furniture; his main goal was to make the perfect chair, the three-pound rocking chair. His plantation, Fresh Water Plantation, was his retirement plan. The Patriot begins in March 1776, with a messenger from the Continental Mail Service delivering a stack of letters to Benjamin Martin. The most urgent letter was from the Speaker of the Assembly. Everyone who was old enough knew what this meant. Benjamin's sons thought war was glorious and were excited by the letter. Benjamin, who was a veteran of the French and Indian war, was not. He learned the hard way how gruesome war was, and didn't want to have anything to do with it, nor his family. His oldest son Gabriel scared him the most. Gabriel wanted to join the war, and was old enough to do it. The note was an invitation to a meeting in Charles Town where the colonies would decide whether they"d join the cause or not. Benjamin and family left for Charles Town to stay with their aunt Charlotte on their mother's side. Benjamin and Charlotte had a spark between them, but Benjamin was not yet over his wife. At the meeting, an argument over why the colonies should all unite was in full strength. Benjamin, who was thought to be a Patriot, stood and made a point as to why he should not join the war, and offered an alternative to war. By the end of the meeting, Martin said he would not agree to make a vote that allowed a war to go on in his backyard. Benjamin's children were ashamed by their father's words. The levy was passed, however, and Benjamin later caught up with Gabriel who was in line to enlist in the war. There was nothing he could do to change his son's mind. Colonial Harry Burwell told Martin he"d take care of his son.