[Mercer] county was
named in honor of Hugh Mercer, a distinguished physician and soldier in
the Revolution. He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1721. In 1746, at
the battle of Culloden, between the Highlanders and the royalists under
the fluke of Cumberland, he served as assistant surgeon. He had been
finely educated for his profession, in that battle he was among the
forces led by the pretender, Charles Edward, and on their defeat he
became a refugee and sought asylum in America.
He became the first physician in Franklin county, Pennsylvania. After
Braddock’s defeat in 1755, the Indians made forays into the Cumberland
valley, and for protection the settlers formed themselves into militia
companies, of one of which Dr. Mercer became captain. He took part in
the Indian campaigns, and in 1757 was promoted major in the forces of
the Province of Pennsylvania. While on the expedition of General John
Forbes against Fort DuQuesne, he first became acquainted with George
Washington, and a warm friendship resulted between them. After the
successful outcome of this expedition, Mercer was left in command of
the captured Fort DuQuesne, having now been promoted colonel.
Between the close of the French and Indian war and the outbreak of the
Revolution, Colonel Mercer was induced by Washington to take up his
residence at Fredericksburg, Virginia. When the war for independence
began, Dr. Mercer was commissioned colonel in a Virginia regiment, and
soon after, on the recommendation of General Washington, was made a
brigadier general. He was with Washington’s arms’ in its retreat across
New Jersey, assisted in the capture of the Hessian troops at Trenton
after the crossing of the Delaware on Christmas, 1776. At the battle of
Princeton, January 3, 1777, while leading the vanguard of the
Americans. his horse was shot under him, and he was compelled to
continue the contest on foot. He was speedily surrounded by British
officers, who ordered him to surrender. Disregarding the summons, he
drew his sword and began an unequal contest. He was finally beaten to
the ground with muskets and his body pierced with bayonet thrusts. With
five wounds in his body and two in his head, he was left on the field
supposed to he dead. He was carried to a neighboring house. When
Washington heard of the fate of his old friend, he sent his nephew.
Major Lewis, to watch over the final moments of the dying hero, who
passed away January 12, 1777.
Source: (Twentieth Century History of Mercer County, 1909, Vol. I, pages 24-25)
General Hugh Mercer
Among the many acts of tyranny and oppression, which exiled from
Britain her noblest sons, and which crowded the forests of America with
an educated and enterprising population, was the memorable battle of
Culloden. The dull pen of history slumbers over the details of that
terrific conflict, while romance has caught from it some of the
proudest examples of virtue, patriotism and chivalry. The Stuarts'
throne was filled by a sullen and phlegmatic race - the unholy union
with England; a nation's birthright prostituted to sale by a hireling
parliament - the burnings, wastings and judicial murders, under the
iron law of the sword, and the heroism of her true, though proscribed
sovereign, all conspired to leave a festering wound on the heart of
Scotland, and to render her restless and insubordinate under the rule
of a foreign king.
The
battle of Culloden quenched the last gasp of her independence, and
the stern revenge inflicted on the vanquished by the merciless
Cumberland, while it filled the nation with woe and wretchedness,
expelled from her bosom those sons whom power could not purchase, and whom
cruelty could not conquer. In that memorable engagement, the subject of
our memoir bore an honorable part in the service
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Hugh Mercer Portrait at the Mercer County Court House (Click photo to enlarge)
Hugh Mercer Placque at theMercer County Court House Photo by Brent Morgan (Click photo to enlarge)
(Click photo to enlarge) Hugh Mercer's Apothocary Shop, Fredricksburg, VA
Dr. Mercer practiced medicine before the Revolutionary War.
Gen. George Washington always kept at desk at the apothecary shop,
where he transacted business when he was in Fredericksburg.
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of his oppressed
country. Having graduated at an early age in the science of medicine,
lie acted on this occasion as an assistant surgeon, and with a
multitude of the vanquished, he shortly after sought a refuge of virtue
and a home of freedom in the wilderness of America.
Landing in
Pennsylvania, he remained there a short time. From thence he removed to
Fredericksburg in Virginia, where he married and became highly
distinguished for his skill and success as a practitioner of medicine.
An unsubdued enemy - merciless, treacherous and revengeful, hovered
around the frontiers of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, repressing
settlements - murdering defenseless women and children, and frequently
making inroads into the cultivated and open country of the colonies.
Joining the army under Washington, which was collected for the purpose
of subduing the Indians, General Mercer, then holding the rank of
captain, became an actor in those wild, perilous, and spirit-stirring
scenes which characterized the Indian war of 1755. In one of the
engagements with this wily foe he was wounded in the right wrist by a
musket ball; and in the irregular warfare then practiced, his company
scattered and became separated from him. Faint from loss of blood, and
exhausted by fatigue, he was closely pursued by the savage foe, their
thrilling war-whoop ringing through the forest, and stimulating to
redoubled energy the footsteps of their devoted victim.
Fortunately
the hollow trunk of a large tree presented itself. In a moment he
concealed himself in it, and though his pursuers reached the spot and
seated themselves around him, he yet miraculously escaped! Leaving his
place of refuge, he sought the abodes of civilization, through a
trackless wild of more than one hundred miles in extent, and after
supporting life on roots and the body of a rattlesnake, which he
encountered and killed, he finally reached Fort Cumberland in safety.
For
his gallantry and military skill in this war, proved in a distinguished
degree, by the destruction of the Indian settlement at Kittaning,
Pennsylvania, the Corporation of Philadelphia presented to him an
honorable and appropriate medal. The commencement of the American
Revolution found him in the midst of an extensive medical practice,
surrounded by affectionate friends, and enjoying in the bosom of a
happy family all the comforts of social life. Stimulated to action by a
lofted spirit of patriotism, he broke from the endearments of domestic
life, and gave to his country in that trying hour the energy and
resources of a practiced and accomplished soldier.
In 1775 he
was in command of three regiments of minute men, and early in 1776 we
find him zealously engaged as a colonel of the army of Virginia, in
drilling and organizing the raw and ill formed masses of men, who under
the varied names of sons of Liberty, minute men, volunteers and levies,
presented the bulk without the order the mob without the discipline of
an army. To produce obedience and subordination among men who
considered military discipline as a restraint on personal liberty, and
who had entered into the war unpaid and unrestricted by command, was a
severe and invidious task. The courage - the fortitude - the
self-possession of Col. Mercer quailed not to these adverse
circumstances, and by the judicious exercise of mingled severity and
kindness, he soon succeeded in reducing a mutinous soldiery to complete
submission. Tradition has preserved the following anecdote,
illustrating in a striking manner, his characteristic promptitude and
bravery.
Among the troops which arrived at Williamsburg, then
the metropolis of Virginia, was a company of riflemen from beyond the
mountains, commanded by Captain Gibson. A reckless insubordination, and
a violent opposition to military restraint, had gained for this corps
the sarcastic name of "Gibson's Lambs." They had not been long in camp
before a mutiny arose among them, producing much excitement in the
army, and alarming threat t the inhabitants of the city. Freed from all
command, they roamed through the camp, threatening with instant death,
any officer who should presume to exercise authority over them. In the
height of the rebellion, an officer was dispatched with the alarming
tidings to the quarters of Col. Mercer. The citizens of the town vainly
implored him not to risk his life and person amid this infuriated mob.
Reckless of personal safety, he instantly repaired to the barracks of
the mutinous band, and directing a general parade of the troops, he
ordered Gibson's company to be drawn up as offenders and violators of
law, and to be disarmed in his presence. The ringleaders were placed
under a strong guard, and in the presence of the whole army, he
addressed the offenders in an eloquent and feeling manner — impressing
on them their duties as citizen-soldiers) and the certainty of death if
they continued to disobey their officers, and remained in that mutinous
spirit — equally disgraceful to them, and hazardous to the sacred
interests they had marched to defend. Disorder was instantly checked,
and after a short confinement, those under imprisonment were released,
and the whole company were ever after as exemplary in their deportment
and conduct as any troops in the army.
A similar incident in the life of Germanicus, must recall to the memory
of the classical reader the imperishable page of the Annals, and he
will find the glowing panegyric of Tacitus applying with redoubled
force to the character of Col. Mercer. In the one case the legions of
Pannonitae, on the death of Augustus, revolted for the sake of plunder,
and the army of Germany which joined them, were inspired by the double
motives of revolution and pillage. The virtue of Germanicus refused a
crown stained with treason, and he was forced to suppress the rebellion
by means degrading to the soldier, and disgraceful to the patriot. He
addressed the hearts of an army composed of the refuse of Rome, in the
language of sympathy and compliment, and the honor of the soldier did
not blush at the cowardice of a largess. Col. Mercer appealed to the
sense and patriotism of his rebellious soldiers - to the holy cause in
which they were engaged; and while he awakened their remorse by his
passionate eloquence, he asserted and maintained the supremacy of the
laws.
Colonel Mercer now joined the continental army, Congress
having conferred on him the rank of Brigadier General; and throughout
the whole of the stormy and disastrous campaign of 1776, he was a bold,
fearless and efficient officer. The fatal conflict at Long Island - the
capitulation at Fort Washington, and the evacuation of Fort Lee, were
the painful preludes to the disastrous retreat of the American army.
From Brunswick, through Princeton, to Trenton, our ragged and suffering
army was driven by a powerful and exulting foe, until it was forced to
cross the Delaware in search of an uncertain refuge in Pennsylvania.
Dispirited
by defeat, and disheartened by abject want, desertion daily thinned the
feeble ranks of the patriot army, and in that darkest hour of our
history the proclamation of General Howe, offering a free pardon,
scattered far and wide the leprosy of treason. In vain did the
commander-in-chief implore the assistance of the New Jersey and
Pennsylvanian militia. Terrified or desponding, they refused all aid,
and cautiously withdrew from an army now rapidly approaching the verge
of destruction. Flushed with victory, the enemy rioted on the plunder
of the country, and calmly awaited the extinction of its humbled foe.
The genius of Washington arose above these accumulated misfortunes. He
could no longer repress the fatal disease of desertion and treason,
which was fast reducing his army to a skeleton.
The torrent of ill fortune threatening to overwhelm his country, must
be rolled back on the enemy, and he resolved to hazard one desperate
effort for victory. On the night of the 25th December, 1776, he crossed
the Delaware at Trenton —surprised a body of Hessians stationed there -
took nearly nine hundred prisoners, and immediately recrossed the
river, having lost but nine of his men. This bold and masterly stroke
awoke Cornwallis from his dream of conquest, and leaving New York, he
returned with an additional force, and concentrated his troops at
Princeton. A portion of Pennsylvanian militia now joined the standard
of Washington, and having persuaded the New England troops to serve six
months loner, he again crossed the Delaware, and took post at Trenton.
On
the morning of the second of January, 1777, the enemy advanced to
attack the American army. On their approach, Gen. Washington prudently
retired across a creek which runs through the town, and then drew up
his troops. The fords being guarded, the enemy could not pass, and
halting, a brisk cannonade was kept up with great spirit by both sides
until night. In this critical situation, Gen. Washington conceived the
bold design of abandoning the Delaware, and marching silently in the
night along the left flank of the enemy into their rear at Princeton.
The
plan was instantly approved by a council of war, and as soon as it was
dark the baggage was removed to Burlington. About one o'clock, on the
morning of the third of January, the gallant band - its van led by
General Mercer, decamped, and silently threaded its circuitous march
along the left flank of its exulting foe. Reaching Princeton about
sunrise, General Mercer encountered three British regiments, who had
encamped there on the previous night, and who there leaving the town to
join the rear of their troops at Maidenhead. A fierce and desperate
conflict immediately ensued. The American militia, constituting the
front, hesitated, became confused and soon gave way, while the few
regulars in the rear could not check the dastardly retreat.
Ere the fortune of the day was changed, and ere victory perched on the
patriot standard, the heroic Mercer fell. Rushing forward to rally his
broken troops, and stimulating them by his voice and example, his horse
was shot from under him, and he fell dangerously wounded among the
columns of the advancing enemy. Being thus dismounted, he was instantly
surrounded by a party of British soldiers, with whom, when they refused
him quarter, he fought desperately with his drawn sword until he was
completely overpowered. Excited to brutality by the gallantry of his
resistance, they stabbed him with their bayonets in seven different
parts of his body, inflicted many blows on his head with the butt ends
of their muskets, and did not cease their butchery until they believed
him to be a crushed and mangled corpse.
Nine days after the
battle he died in the arms of Major Geo. Lewis of the army, the nephew
of General Washington, whom the uncle had commissioned to thatch over
the last moments of his expiring friend. His latter hours were soothed
by the skillful and affectionate attendance of the distinguished Doctor
Rush. He complained much of his head, and frequently remarked to his
surgeon, "that there was the principal danger," and Doctor Rush
whenever he detailed the thrilling narrative of his patient's
suffering, always described his death to the blows on the head more
than to the bayonet wounds, although several of these were attended
with extreme danger.
In a small house, a few yards distant from
that blood-red plain of carnage and of death, far away from the
soothing consolations of domestic affection, this distinguished martyr
of Liberty breathed his last.
The victorious flag of his
country proudly floated over a field of triumph, and without a murmur
he sank into a soldier's grave-finding a hallowed sepulchre in the
hearts of his countrymen, and a fadeless epitaph in their institutions.
The mangled body was removed under a military escort from
Princeton to Philadelphia, and exposed a day in the coffee-house, with
the design of exciting by that mournful spectacle the indignation of
the people. The Pennsylvania Evening Post for January 18, 1777, has
thus recorded his death and funeral obsequies. " Last Sunday evening,
died near Princeton, of the wounds he received in the engagement at
that place on the 3rd instant, Hugh Mercer, Esq., Brigadier General in
the continental army. On Wednesday his body was brought to this city,
and on Thursday buried on the south side of Christ church yard with
military honors; attended by the committee of safety - the members of
the assembly —gentlemen of the army, and a number of the most
respectable inhabitants of this city. The uniform character exalted
abilities and intrepidity of this illustrious officer, will render his
name equally dear to America faith the liberty for which she is now
contending, to the latest posterity."
The battles of Trenton and Princeton, in which General Mercer fought
and bled unto death, were the most brilliant and fortunate victories
won in the war of the Revolution. The establishment of our independence
was now no longer a matter of doubt. Confidence was restored to our
disheartened army, and a chord of sympathy was stricken which vibrated
throughout all the country. Europe looked with astonishment on the
military kill displayed by raw and dispirited soldiery, and in the
indomitable fortitude of her banded chivalry, America felt that her
independence was secured.
General Mercer's elevated character,
lofty heroism and brutal murder, excited a deep and affectionate
sympathy throughout all the colonies. On the 8th of April, 1777,*
Congress unanimously resolved, that a monument should be erected to the
memory of General Mercer at Fredericksburg, Virginia; at the same time
a similar monument to the memory of Gen. Warren was decreed; and Gen.
Washington, in an official letter to Congress, thus alludes to these
resolutions. "The honors Congress have decreed to the memory of
Generals Warren and Mercer afford me the highest pleasure. Their
character and merit had a just claim to every mark of respect, and I
heartily wish that every officer of the United States, emulating their
virtues, may by their actions secure to themselves the same right to
the grateful tributes of their country."
The fixed popularity
of Gen. Mercer, and the cherished affection which the nation bore for
his memory, was happily exemplified in the chaste and beautiful
compliment of Lafayette. When he was in the United States a few years
ago, the conversation in a particular company, turning on the prominent
men of the Revolution, one of the company observed to him, that he,
Gen. Lafayette, was of course acquainted with Gen. Mercer, not
recollecting that Lafayette did not arrive in the United States until
after the battle of Princeton. "Oh! no," said the General, "you know
that Mercer fell in January, 1777, and I reached the United States in
the ensuing spring; but on my arrival I found the army and whole
country so full (of his name, that an impression has been always left
on my mind since, that I was personally acquainted with him."
In Wilkinson's Memoirs, several interesting particulars of the life and
services of Gen. Mercer are related, and in alluding to his death, that
writer remarks: "In Gen. Mercer we lost at Princeton a chief who for
education, talents, disposition, integrity and patriotism, was second
to no man but the commander-in-chief, and was qualified to fill the
highest trusts of the country." The same author remarks, that an
evening or two before the battle of Princeton, Gen. Mercer being in the
tent of Gen. St. Clair with several officers, the conversation turned
on some promotions then just made in the army. Gen. Mercer remarked,
"they were not engaged in a war of ambition, or that he should not have
been there, and that every man should be content to serve in that
station in which he could he most useful - that for his part he had but
one object in view, and that was the success of the cause, and that God
could witness how cheerfully he would lay down his life to secure it."
Little, adds the writer, did he or any of the company then think that a
few fleeting hours would seal the compact. In the historical paintings
of the battle of Princeton by Peale and Trumbull, Gen. Mercer is a
prominent and conspicuous figure. That by Peale hangs in the chapel of
Nassau Hall at Princeton, and that by Col. Trumbull is in the
exhibition.
*
It is still a resolution of Congress. How often are justice, gratitude
and honor forgotten in the low and vulgar conflicts of party?
(Source: Southern Literary Messenger, Volume IV, No. 28) |
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