Hugh Mercer
Hugh Mercer | |
---|---|
Born | Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, Scotland | 16 January 1726
Died | 12 January 1777 Princeton, New Jersey, U.S. | (aged 50)
Place of burial | |
Allegiance | Jacobites Great Britain United States |
Service/ | Jacobite Army Pennsylvania Militia Continental Army |
Years of service | Jacobite Army (1745–1746) Pennsylvania Militia (1755–1776) Continental Army (1776–1777) |
Rank | Brigadier general (Continental Army) |
Battles/wars | |
Alma mater | University of Aberdeen |
Relations | Hugh W. Mercer (grandson) Johnny Mercer and George S. Patton (great-great-great grandsons) |
Other work | Surgeon, apothecary |
Hugh Mercer (January 16, 1726 – January 12, 1777) was a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He fought in the New York and New Jersey campaign and was mortally wounded at the Battle of Princeton.
He was born in Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen. He served as an assistant surgeon in Charles Edward Stuart's army during the Battle of Culloden in the Jacobite rising of 1745.
After the failed uprising, Mercer escaped to the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania, where he lived in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, which is present-day Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and Fredericksburg, Virginia. He worked as a physician, and established an apothecary. He served alongside George Washington in the provincial troops during the French and Indian War, and he and Washington became close friends.
Early life and education
Mercer was born on January 16, 1726, in Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, Scotland[2] to Ann Monro and the Reverend William Mercer, a minister in the Church of Scotland.[3]
At age 15, he began studying medicine at the University of Aberdeen's Marischal College, and graduated as a physician in 1744.[4] He served as an assistant surgeon in the army of Charles Edward Stuart during the Jacobite rising of 1745, and was present at the Battle of Culloden when Charles' army was defeated on 16 April 1746.[5]
As a fugitive in his homeland in 1747, Mercer fled Scotland after months in hiding.[6] In the fall of 1746, he departed Leith by ship and sailed to Philadelphia. He settled in Pennsylvaniva near Greencastle, now known as Mercersburg, and practiced medicine as a physician and apothecary[7] for eight years.[8]
French and Indian War
Although Mercer opposed the British government forces in the Jacobite Rising of 1745, he fought with the British during the French and Indian War.
In the fighting at
Both Washington and Mercer served in the
American Revolution
At the recommendation of Washington, Mercer moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia[15] in 1760 to practice medicine after the war. He befriended another Scottish expatriate, John Paul Jones.[18] Mercer became a noted member and businessman in town, buying land and involving himself in local trade. He married Isabella Gordon and started a family.[9]
He became a member of the Fredericksburg
Soon after, Mercer opened a physician's apothecary and practice.[20] His apothecary in Fredericksburg, Virginia is now a museum.[21] George Washington's mother, Mary Washington, became one of Mercer's patients, and Mercer prospered as a respected doctor in the area. Mercer married Isabella Gordon and together they had five children: Ann Mercer Patton, John Mercer, William Mercer, George Weedon Mercer, and Hugh Tennant Mercer.[22]
In 1774, George Washington sold Ferry Farm, his childhood home, to Mercer, who wanted to make this prized land into a town where he and his family would settle for the remainder of his days.[23]
During 1775, Mercer was a member of the Fredericksburg Committee of Safety, and on April 25, he was one of the members of the Independent Company of the Town of Fredericksburg who sent a letter of concern to then Colonel George Washington when the British removed gunpowder from the magazine at Williamsburg. In an August vote, Mercer was excluded from the elected leadership of the new regiments formed by the Virginia Convention because he was a "northern Briton",[24] but on 12 September, he was elected Colonel of the Minute Men of Spotsylvania, King George, Stafford, and Caroline Counties.[25]
On November 17, 1775, Mercer was one of 21 members chosen for the Committee of Safety for Spotsylvania County. On January 10, 1776, Mercer was appointed colonel to what soon became the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Virginia Line,[26] and the next day, George Weedon was appointed lieutenant colonel.[27] Future president James Monroe and future Chief Justice of the United States John Marshall also served as officers under his command.
American Revolutionary War
On June 5, 1776, Mercer received a letter from the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, signed by John Hancock, appointing him brigadier-general in the Armies of the United Colonies and requesting him to report to headquarters in New York immediately.[28]
Mercer was placed in charge of a large troop of Pennsylvania Militia stationed in Paulus Hook, New Jersey to protect from potential attack from British troops in Staten Island.[29]
Before the New York City Campaign, Washington had ordered two forts built to repel the
Mercer led a raid on Richmondtown, Staten Island on October 15, 1776, temporarily securing the town and taking as prisoners those inside the makeshift hospital of St. Andrew's Church, but was repelled back to New Jersey, releasing the prisoners and causing numerous British casualties in the process.[33]
Some historical accounts credit Mercer with the suggestion for
Death
The next day, January 3, 1777, Washington's army was en route to the Battle of Princeton. While leading a vanguard of 350 soldiers, Mercer's brigade encountered two British regiments and a mounted unit. A fight broke out at an orchard grove and Mercer's horse was shot from under him. Getting to his feet, he was quickly surrounded by British troops who mistook him for George Washington and ordered him to surrender. Outnumbered, he drew his saber and began an unequal contest. He was finally beaten to the ground, bayoneted seven times, and left for dead.[36]
When he learned of the British attack and saw some of Mercer's men in retreat, Washington himself entered the fray. Washington rallied Mercer's men and pushed back the British regiments, but Mercer had been left on the field to die with multiple bayonet wounds to his body and blows to his head. Legend has it that a beaten Mercer, with a bayonet still impaled in him, did not want to leave his men and the battle and was given a place to rest on a white oak tree's trunk, and those who remained with him stood their ground. The tree became known as "the Mercer Oak" and is the key element of the seal of Mercer County, New Jersey.[37]
When he was found, Mercer was carried to the field hospital in the
Local Quakers continued to care for wounded troops from both Continental and British forces, after the Continental Army moved North. The Quaker meeting house is adjacent to the property now known as Princeton Battlefield State Park. Medical efforts were made by Rush to save Mercer,[38] but he was mortally wounded and died nine days later, on January 12, 1777.
Interment
Mercer was initially interred in the Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia. In 1840, he was reinterred in Laurel Hill Cemetery,[39] including a memorial monument funded by the Saint Andrew's Society.[8]
Because of Mercer's courage and sacrifice, Washington proceeded into Princeton, where he and the Continental Army defeated British forces in the Battle of Princeton. Washington then moved and quartered his forces in Morristown following the victory.[40] Because of those victories, most of Washington's army re-enlisted, the French finally approved arms and supplies to the Americans, and a stunned Cornwallis pulled his forces back to New York to reassess the surprising military victories by Washington and his Continental Army. The crisis ended, demonstrating that Washington and his army had the means to fight, and British public support for continued engagement in the war began waning.
John Trumbull used Mercer's son, Hugh Jr., as a model for his portrait The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777.[41]
A second portrait by Charles Willson Peale, Washington at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777, displays Washington in the foreground with Hugh Mercer lying mortally wounded in the background, supported by Dr. Benjamin Rush and Major George Lewis holding the American flag. This portrait is the prize possession of Princeton University. Peale painted a version of Battle of Princeton, whose background shows a very indistinct portrait of Mercer being helped from the ground.[42]
Family
Succeeding generations of Mercer's family have distinguished themselves. Famous direct descendants of Hugh Mercer were his grandson Virginia governor
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In popular culture
- In 2000, the television film, The Crossing, includes a dramatization of Washington's crossing of the Delaware and the Battle of Trenton. Mercer is played by Roger Rees.[44]
- In 2015, in the Broadway musical Hamilton, Mercer is referenced by Aaron Burr in the song "The Room Where It Happens": "Did ya hear the news about good old General Mercer? You know Clermont Street? They renamed it after him. The Mercer legacy is secure."[45]
- In episode 3 of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (2024), Mercer's story is retold and one of the characters, Major General Beale, possesses a sword said to have belonged to him.[46]
Namesakes
- Fort Mercer, located in Red Bank Battlefield of what is now the Borough of National Park, New Jersey[47]
- Hugh Mercer Elementary School in Fredericksburg, Virginia[48]
- Mercer County, Illinois[49]
- Mercer County, Kentucky[50]
- Mercer County, Missouri[49]
- Mercer County, New Jersey[51]
- Mercer County, Ohio[49]
- Mercer County, Pennsylvania[49]
- Mercer County, West Virginia[49]
- Mercer Hall at the University of Mary Washington[52]
- Mercer, Maine[53]
- Mercer, Pennsylvania
- Mercer Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia[48]
- Mercer Street in New York City[54]
- Mercer Street in Trenton, New Jersey[55]
- Mercers Bottom, West Virginia[56]
- Mercersburg, Pennsylvania[8]
- Mercerville, New Jersey
Gallery
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General Hugh Mercer Memorial Statue, Washington Avenue Historic District, Fredericksburg, Virginia
-
Charles Wilson Peale portrait of Washington; Mercer; Rush and Lewis
-
James Peale's The Battle of Princeton. background left can be seen Mercer beside his white horse
References
Citations
- ^ Note this image of General Hugh Mercer (1726-1777) is erroneously labeled as Nova Scotia Governor Peregrine Hopson in the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society. Vol. XVI. Halifax: Wm. Macnab & Son. 1912. p. 1.
- ^ "General Hugh Mercer, January 16, 1726 - January 12, 1777". www.americanhistorycentral.com. R.Squared Communication, LLC. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, p. 12.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, p. 13.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, p. 14.
- ^ "Hugh Mercer". www.battlefields.org. American Battlefield Trust. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, p. 23.
- ^ a b c MacDougall, Donald John (1917). Scots and Scots' Descendants in America, Volume 1. Caledonian Publishing Company. pp. 39–40. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
- ^ a b "The Tale of Two Mercers". www.battlefields.org. American Battlefield Trust. September 6, 2017. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
- ^ Lossing, John Benson. Potter's American Monthly; an illustrated magazine of history, literature, science, and art. Philadelphia: John E. Potter and Company. p. 70. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, p. 26.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, p. 27.
- ^ a b c Goolrick 1906, p. 28.
- ^ Robert Robison, "Colonel J. Armstrong's Attack on the Kittaning", in A Selection of some of the most interesting narratives of outrages committed by the Indians in their wars with the white people, Archibald Loudon, ed. Carlisle: A. Loudon Press, 1811
- ^ a b Goolrick 1906, pp. 28–29.
- ISBN 978-0967410302.
- ^ Stotz, Charles Morse. Drums in the Forest: Decision at the Forks, Defense in the Wilderness. University of Pittsburgh Pre, 2005.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, p. 30.
- ^ "History of Lodge 4". Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge #4. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, p. 31.
- ^ "Hugh Mercer Apothecary". APVA Preservation Virginia. Archived from the original on March 6, 2008. Retrieved March 4, 2008.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, pp. 105–106.
- ISBN 978-1-2500-2314-8.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, p. 40.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, p. 42.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, pp. 41–42.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, p. 38.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, pp. 45–47.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, pp. 47–48.
- ^ Kwasny 1996, p. 72.
- ^ Kwasny 1996, p. 83.
- ^ Kwasny 1996, pp. 84–85.
- ISBN 978-1-5485-8202-9. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
- ^ Goolrick 1906, pp. 48–49.
- ^ Stryker, William S. (1898). The Battles of Trenton and Princeton. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. p. 304.
- ^ Kwasny 1996, pp. 103–104.
- ISBN 9780801543906.
- ISBN 978-1-62779-044-4. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
- ISBN 978-1-4671-2655-7. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
- ISBN 0-19-518159-X.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- ^ Site of Moulder's Battery
- ^ Lowe, Christopher. "Descendant of a north-east born American war hero returns for Fraserburgh exhibit". The Press and Journal. Archived from the original on November 1, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
- ^ "The Crossing (TV Movie 2000)". www.imdb.com. IMDb.com, Inc. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
- ^ "The Official Page For The Music of Hamilton: The Musical". Archived from the original on October 4, 2015.
- ^ Marilla Thomas, Leah (March 10, 2024). "The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Recap: Follow Your Bliss, Rick". Vulture.
- ^ Lee, Francis Bazley (1907). Genealogical and Personal Memorial of Mercer County New Jersey. New York: The Lewis Publishing Company. p. 125. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
- ^ a b "Hugh Mercer's Fredericksburg". www.battlefields.org. American Battlefield Trust. October 3, 2017. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Gannett, Henry (1905). The origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. p. 205. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
- ^ The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Volume 1. Kentucky State Historical Society. 1903. p. 36.
- ^ Lee, Francis Bazley (1907). Genealogical and Personal Memorial of Mercer County New Jersey. New York: The Lewis Publishing Company. p. 128. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
- ^ "Historic Buildings of the University of Mary Washington". www.buildings.umwblogs.org. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
- ^ "Maine an Encyclopedia - Mercer". www.maineanencyclopedia.com. Publius Research. January 21, 2012. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
- ISBN 0-8147-2711-5. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
- ^ "Trenton Historical Society, New Jersey".
- ^ Kenny, Hamill (1945). West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains. Piedmont, WV: The Place Name Press. p. 410.
Sources
- Goolrick, John Tackett (1906). The Life of General Hugh Mercer. The Neale Publishing Company.
- Kwasny, Mark V. (1996). Washington's Partisan War, 1775–1783. Kent State University Press. ISBN 978-0-87338-611-1.
- Fischer, David Hackett (2004). Washington's Crossing. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-518159-X.