We wonder if any one ever declined to take the advice of George
Washington.
Certain it is that General Hugh Mercer did not, for, at the suggestion of
Washington, Mercer came to Fredericksburg. Many Scotchmen have found the
town to their liking. It makes them feel a sort of kinship with the
country of hill-shadows, and strange romance.
Mercer was born in Aberdeen in the year 1725. His father was a clergyman;
his mother, a daughter of Sir Robert Munro, who, after distinguishing
himself at Fontenoy and elsewhere, was killed at the battle of Falkirk,
while opposing the young "Pretender." Hugh Mercer did not follow in the
footsteps of his father, but linked his fortunes with Charles Edward's
army, as assistant surgeon, fought with him at Culloden and shared the
gloom of his defeat--a defeat which was not less bitter because his ears
were ringing with the victorious shouts of the army of the Duke of
Cumberland.
To change a scene that brought sad memories, Dr. Hugh Mercer, in the fall
of 1746, embarked for America. There, on the frontiers of civilization, in
Western Pennsylvania, he spent arduous, unselfish years. He was welcomed
and loved in this unsettled region of scattered homes.
A rough school it was in which the doctor learned the lessons of life.
In the year 1755, Mercer made his appearance in the ill-fated army of
Braddock, which met humiliating disaster at Fort Duquesne. Washington's
splendid career began here and here Mercer was wounded. Of this memorable
day of July 9, 1755, it has been said that "The Continentals gave the only
glory to that humiliating disaster."
In 1756, while an officer in a military association, which was founded to
resist the aggression of the French and Indians, he was wounded and forced
to undergo terrible privations. While pursued by savage foes he sought
refuge in the trunk of a tree, around which the Indians gathered and
discussed the prospect of scalping him in the near future. When they left
he escaped in the opposite direction and completely outwitted them. Then
began a lonely march through an unbroken forest, where he was compelled to
live on roots and herbs, and where the carcass of a rattlesnake proved his
most nourishing meal. He finally succeeded in rejoining his command at
Fort Cumberland. In recognition of his sacrifices and services in these
Indian wars, the Corporation of Philadelphia presented him with a note of
thanks and a splendid memorial medal. In the year 1758 he met George
Washington and then it was that Pennsylvania lost a citizen. In
Fredericksburg, at the time that Mercer came, lived John Paul Jones, and
we do not doubt that they often met and talked of their beloved Scotland.
During his first years in Fredericksburg, Mercer occupied a small
two-story house on the southwest corner of Princess Anne and Amelia
Streets. There he had his office and apothecary shop. The building is
still standing.
An Englishman, writing at this time of a visit to Fredericksburg, calls
Mercer "a man of great eminence and possessed of almost every virtue and
accomplishment," truly a sweeping appreciation.
[Sidenote: _Mercer Joins Masonic Lodge_]
He belonged to Lodge No. 4, of which George Washington was also a member,
and he occasionally paid a visit to Mount Vernon.
In September, 1774, the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. The war
cloud was lowering, it broke, and when the Revolution swept the country,
Mercer was elected Colonel of the Third Virginia Regiment.
An approbation of the choice of Mercer was prepared by the county
committee, which set forth the importance of the appointment and was an
acknowledgment of his public spirit and willingness to sacrifice his life.
Colonel Mercer with his men and fifes and drums marched away from his
home, bidding good-bye to his wife (Isabella Gordon), whom he never saw
again.
There is an interesting story of Mercer at Williamsburg. Among the troops
which were sent there at that time, was a Company of riflemen from beyond
the mountains, commanded by a Captain Gibson. A reckless and violent
opposition to military restraint had gained for this corps the name of
"Gibson's Lambs." After a short time in camp, a mutiny arose among them,
causing much excitement in the army, and alarming the inhabitants of the
city. Free from all restraint, they roamed through the camp, threatening
with instant death any officer who would presume to exercise any authority
over them.
[Sidenote: _Mercer Quells a Mutiny_]
At the height of the mutiny an officer was dispatched with the alarming
tidings to the quarters of Colonel Mercer. The citizens of the town vainly
implored him not to risk his life in 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 the 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 manner,
impressing on them their duties as citizens and soldiers, and the
certainty of death if they continued to remain in that mutinous spirit
equally disgraceful to them and hazardous to the sacred interests they had
marched to defend. Disorder was instantly checked and the whole company
was ever afterward as efficient in deportment as any troop in the army.
On June 5, 1776, Mercer was made Brigadier-General in the Continental
Army. It was Mercer who suggested to Washington the crossing of the
Delaware. Major Armstrong, Mercer's Aide-de-Camp, who was present at a
council of officers, and who was with Mercer on that fateful night, is
authority for this statement.
We, somehow, see the army of the colonists poorly clad, many of them
barefoot, without tents, with few blankets, and badly fed. In front of
them is Cornwallis, with his glittering hosts, and we can almost hear the
boast of General Howe, that Philadelphia would fall when the Delaware
froze. He did not know Washington; and Mercer's daring was not reckoned
with. We wonder if ever a Christmas night was so filled with history as
that on which Washington, with the intrepid Mercer at his side, pushing
through that blinding storm of snow and fighting his way through the
floating ice, crossed the Deleware with the rallying cry of "victory or
death," and executed the brilliant move which won for him the Battle of
Trenton.
Near Princeton, Washington's army was hemmed in by Cornwallis in front and
the Delaware in the rear. After a consultation at Mercer's headquarters it
was determined to withdraw the Continental forces from the front of the
enemy near Trenton, and attack the detachment then at Princeton. The
pickets of the two armies were within two hundred yards of each other. In
order to deceive the enemy, campfires were left burning on Washington's
front line and thus deceived, the enemy slept.
[Sidenote: _Death on The Battlefield_]
A woman guided the Continental army on that night march. A detachment of
two hundred men, under Mercer, was sent to seize a bridge at Worth's Mill.
The night had been dreary; the morning was severely cold. Mercer's
presence was revealed at daybreak. General Mahood counter-marched his
regiment and crossed the bridge at Worth's Mill before Mercer could reach
it. The British troops charged. The Colonials were driven back. General
Mercer dismounted and tried vainly to rally his men. While he was doing
this, he was attacked by a group of British troops, who, with the butts of
muskets, beat him down and demanded that he surrender. He refused. He was
then bayoneted and left for dead on the battlefield. Stabbed in seven
different places, he did not expire until January 12, 1777.
Washington finally won the Battle of Princeton, but Mercer was a part of
the price he paid. The battles of Trenton and Princeton were the most
brilliant victories in the War of the Revolution.
At Fredericksburg a monument perpetuates Mercer's fame. At the funeral in
Philadelphia 30,000 people were present, and there his remains rest in
Laurel Hill Cemetery.
The St. Andrew's Society, which he joined in 1757, erected a monument to
his memory and in the historical painting of the Battle of Princeton, by
Peale Mercer is given a prominent place. The states of Pennsylvania,
Kentucky, Virginia and New Jersey have, by an act of Legislature, named a
county "Mercer," and on October 1, 1897, a bronze tablet to his memory was
unveiled at Princeton, N. J. We have not the space to relate all of his
illustrious life, but somewhere there is a poem, the last lines of which
voice the sentiment of his countrymen.
"But he, himself, is canonized,
If saintly deeds such fame can give;
As long as liberty is prized,
Hugh Mercer's name shall surely live."