Hugh Mercer

Encyclopedia : H : HU : HUG : Hugh Mercer

Hugh Mercer (sketched by John Trumbull).

Hugh Mercer (January 17, 1726 – January 12, 1777) was a brigadier general of the Continental Army and a close friend to George Washington. Both a fallen hero and a rallying symbol of the American Revolution, he died as a result of his wounds received at the Battle of Princeton.

Born in Rosehearty, Aberdeenshire, Scotland to Presbyterian Minister, Reverend William Mercer of Pitsligo Parish Church and Ann Monro. At 18, he attended the University of Aberdeen, Marischal College, studying medicine and graduated a Doctor. He was assistant surgeon in the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745, siding against his Loyalist grandfather, Sir Robert Monro. He was present at the Battle of Culloden Moor when Charles' Army was crushed on April 16, 1746, and any survivors were hunted down and killed. As a fugitive in his own homeland in 1747, Hugh fled Scotland after nearly a year in hiding. Mercer bought his way onto a ship and moved to America, settling near what is now Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and practiced medicine for eight years.

In 1755, when General Edward Braddock's army was cut down by the French and Indians, Mercer was shocked by the same butchery he remembered at Culloden Moor. He came to the aid of the wounded and eventually took up arms in support of the army that a few years back was hunting him; this time not as a surgeon, but as a soldier. He was commissioned a captain in a Pennsylvania regiment and accompanied Lieutenant Colonel John Armstrong's expedition on the raid of the Indian village of Kittanning in September 1756. During the attack, he was badly wounded and separated from his unit. He trekked 100 miles through the woods for fourteen days, injured and with no supplies, until he found his way back to Fort Shirley, where he was recognized and promoted. He rose to the rank of colonel and commanded garrisons. It was during these trying times that Colonel Mercer developed a life-long and warm friendship with Colonel George Washington. It was Washington who recommend that Mercer should move to Fredericksburg, Virginia, to begin his medical practice anew at the conclusion of the war.

-->

When Hugh Mercer arrived at the childhood home of George Washington in 1760, he was well received as a war hero and a Scotsman. Fredericksburg was a thriving Scottish community that must have been a happy sanctuary for a Scotsman who could never again see his homeland. He became a noted member and businessman in town, surveying, buying and selling of land, involving himself in local trade. He became a member of Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge in 1767, and sat as its Master a few years later. Two members of this same lodge would later become American Presidents (George Washington and James Monroe (affiliated)), and six are recorded as being generals of the American Revolution (George Washington, Hugh Mercer, George Weedon, William Woodford, Fielding Lewis, and the Marquis de Lafayette (honorary in 1824); more than any other group, institution or organization save the pre-Revolution British Army, and this Lodge is still in existence today (External Links: see Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge #4).

Soon after this, Mercer opened a physician’s apothecary and practice, which to this day still stands in town. One of his most famous patients was Mary Washington, the mother of George Washington, who trusted him, and he prospered as the most respected doctor in the area. He married Isabella Gordon and fathered three children: Hugh Tennant Mercer, Ann Mercer Patton, and William Mercer. In 1774, George Washington sold his childhood home of Ferry Farm to Mercer, who wanted to make this prize the land that he and his family would settle for the remainder of his days, but the American Revolution would change everything.

Mercer was to remain in Fredericksburg for fifteen years, leaving in 1776 to join the Continental Army. Mercer was initially commissioned a captain and chosen to command the Independent Company of the Town of Fredericksburg in 1775. He was later promoted to lieutenant colonel and placed in command of a militia battalion. In December 1775, he was promoted to colonel and served as the first commander of the 3rd Virginia Regiment, Virginia Line of the Continental Army. The future president James Monroe and the future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Marshall served as officers under Mercer's command. Within the back room of Hugh’s Apothecary Shop on Princess Anne Street, and at the request of General George Washington to Congress, Hugh Mercer was commissioned a brigadier general in June 1776.

Just before the Battle of Manhattan, Washington ordered two forts built to repel the British Navy. On the New York side of the Hudson, Fort Washington was constructed and on the New Jersey banks, Mercer himself overseen the building of the earthen fortification named Fort Lee. Though bravely defended, the British captured Ft. Washington on November 16, 1776 and Ft. Lee four days later. The retreat to New Jersey became known as “the Crisis of the Revolution", in which the enlistment of the supermajority of Washington's beaten and down-trodden soldiers ended on that New Year's Day. Although it is only rumored that Hugh Mercer exclusively originated Washington's daring plan to cross the Delaware River and surprise the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, what is confirmed is that he was a major contributor. What we do know is that Mercer had a center role in the capture of the Hessian troops at Trenton after the crossing and was recorded to have distinguished himself in its execution. Because of the win at Trenton (and a small monetary bonus), Washington's men agreed to a ten-day extension to their enlistment. When Washington decided to face off with Cornwallis during the Second Battle of Trenton on (January 2, 1777), Mercer was given a major role in the defense of the city.

Mercer Memorial and Thomas Clarke House, Princeton, NJ

Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777; while leading a vanguard of the 350 Americans, General Mercer's 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 officers 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 by saber, muskets and bayonet thrusts. In learning of the British attack and seeing some of Mercer's men in retreat, Washington himself entered the fray, rallying his men and pushing back the British regiments but Mercer was found with a dozen wounds in his body and two in his head and left on the field to die. Legend has it that a beaten Mercer with a bayonet still impaled in him did not want to leave his men and the battle, so was given a place to rest on the white oak tree's trunk while those who remained with him stood their ground, thus the tree is forever known as “the Mercer Oak”. Hugh Mercer was then carried to the field hospital in the Thomas Clarke House (now a museum) at the eastern end of the battle field. In spite of medical efforts by Benjamin Rush, Hugh Mercer laid dying. When George Washington heard of the fate of his old friend, he asked his aide-de-camp (and nephew) Major George Lewis along with Dr. Rush and under a pre-arranged flag of truce with Cornwallis to remain and watch over the final moments of this dying hero. After nine agonizing days, General Hugh Mercer passed away on January 12, 1777.

Because of Mercer’s courage and sacrifice, Washington was able to proceed into Princeton and rout the British forces there. He then moved and quartered his forces to Morristown in victory. Because of those victories, Washington's army reenlisted, 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 American successes. Thus ended for the Americans the Ten Crucial Days of "the Crisis". America still had the means to fight its rebellion and in England, the royal government started losing support for the war. The freedom that Hugh Mercer fought and died for was for an American nation and succeeding generations of his family have distinguished his same courage. One famous descendant was from Hugh’s daughter, Ann Mercer and her husband, Robert Patton by the name of General George Smith Patton of World War II. It was Patton’s courage and determination that earned him the reputation as America's best commander of armed forces in history; the same courage and determination that has often been exhibited by his famous Scottish ancestor, General Hugh Mercer.

Other famous direct descendants of Hugh Mercer were Confederate General Hugh Weedon Mercer and songwriter Johnny Mercer.

General Hugh Mercer Memorial Statue, Fredericksburg, VA

The city of Fredericksburg continues to maintain a renovated version of Mercer's apothecary shop to this day and outside of Kenmore Mansion and near the resting place of Mary Washington, a statue stands to honor General Hugh Mercer.

Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County, Ohio, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, Mercer County, Kentucky, and Mercer County, Illinois are named for him.

External links

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.