Английская Википедия:Hugh Mercer

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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[1] to Ann Monro and the Reverend William Mercer, a minister in the Church of Scotland.Шаблон:Sfn

At age 15, he began studying medicine at the University of Aberdeen's Marischal College, and graduated as a physician in 1744.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

As a fugitive in his homeland in 1747, Mercer fled Scotland after months in hiding.[2] 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 apothecaryШаблон:Sfn for eight years.[3]

French and Indian War

Шаблон:Further

Файл:Land grant Hugh Mercer's Heirs Thomas Jefferson 1780.jpg
The Kentucky land grant to heirs of Mercer for jos service of George Weedon during the French and Indian War signed by then Virginia governor Thomas Jefferson in 1780

Although Mercer opposed the British government forces in the Jacobite Rising of 1745, he fought with the British during the French and Indian War.[4] In 1755, Mercer served as a captain in General Edward Braddock's army in his failed attempt to take Fort Duquesne. He was wounded in the arm[5] during the battle and left behind in the scramble to retreat. He was able to rejoin his troops and continued to treat wounded soldiers.Шаблон:Sfn In March 1756, he was commissioned a captain in a Pennsylvania regiment,Шаблон:Sfn and took command of Fort Shirley. He accompanied Lt. Col. John Armstrong in the Kittanning Expedition in September 1756.Шаблон:Sfn

In the fighting at Kittanning, Mercer was badly wounded and separated from his unit. He trekked Шаблон:Convert through the woods for 14 days, injured and with no supplies, before he "lay down, giving up all hopes of ever getting home." A "company of Cherokee Indians in kings pay" found him and carried him to Fort Lyttleton, where he recovered.[6]Шаблон:Rp In 1757, he was placed in charge of the garrison at Shippensburg and promoted to Major.Шаблон:Sfn It was during this period that Mercer developed a lifelong friendship with George Washington.Шаблон:Sfn

Both Washington and Mercer served in the Forbes Expedition under British General John Forbes during the second attempt to capture Fort Duquesne.Шаблон:Sfn Forbes occupied the burned fort on 25 November 1758. Forbes immediately ordered the construction of a new fortification to be named Fort Pitt, after British Secretary of State William Pitt the Elder. He also named the settlement between the rivers "Pittsburgh", modern Pittsburgh.[7]

American Revolution

Файл:Hugh Mercer Apothecary 01.jpg
Hugh Mercer Apothecary in Fredericksburg, Virginia

At the recommendation of Washington, Mercer moved to Fredericksburg, VirginiaШаблон:Sfn in 1760 to practice medicine after the war. He befriended another Scottish expatriate, John Paul Jones.Шаблон:Sfn 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.[4]

He became a member of the Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge in 1767. Washington, who was also a member of this lodge, later became President, and at least eight members were generals of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War: Washington, Mercer, George Weedon, William Woodford, Fielding Lewis, Thomas Posey, Gustavus Wallace, and the Marquis de Lafayette, who named an honorary general in 1824, far more than any other group, institution, or organization during the Revolutionary War. The lodge is still in existence today.[8]

Soon after, Mercer opened a physician's apothecary and practice.Шаблон:Sfn His apothecary in Fredericksburg, Virginia is now a museum.[9] 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.Шаблон:Sfn

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.[10]

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",Шаблон:Sfn but on 12 September, he was elected Colonel of the Minute Men of Spotsylvania, King George, Stafford, and Caroline Counties.Шаблон:Sfn

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,Шаблон:Sfn and the next day, George Weedon was appointed lieutenant colonel.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn

Before the New York City Campaign, Washington had ordered two forts built to repel the Royal Navy. On the New York side of the Hudson River, Fort Washington was constructed, and Mercer himself oversaw the building of the earthen fortification on the New Jersey side, named Fort Lee.Шаблон:Sfn The British captured Fort Washington on 16 November 1776, and the Americans abandoned Fort Lee four days later.Шаблон:Sfn The retreat to New Jersey became known as "the Crisis of the Revolution", because the enlistments of most of Washington's soldiers ended on New Year's Day 1777.Шаблон:Sfn

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.[11]

Some historical accounts credit Mercer with the suggestion for George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, which resulted in a surprise attack on the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776.Шаблон:Sfn The victory at Trenton (and a small monetary bonus) made Washington's men agree 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.[12]

Death

Шаблон:Further

Файл:The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton January 3 1777.jpeg
The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777, a portrait by John Trumbull featuring Mercer's death and George Washington on the horse
Файл:Mercermemorial.jpg
Mercer Memorial at the Thomas Clarke House in Princeton, New Jersey, where Mercer was treated after being bayonetted by British troops at the Battle of Princeton
Файл:Hugh Mercer Memorial.jpg
Mercer's remains were reinterred from Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia to Laurel Hill Cemetery in 1840, where a monument funded by the Saint Andrew's Society marks his gravesite.

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.Шаблон:Sfn

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.[13]

When he was found, Mercer was carried to the field hospital in the Thomas Clarke House, now a museum. at the eastern end of the battlefield. Benjamin Rush cared for Mercer and other wounded troops. Rush was assisted in caring for the wounded by Quakers.

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,[14] 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,[15] including a memorial monument funded by the Saint Andrew's Society.[3]

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.[16] 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.[17]

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.[18]

Family

Succeeding generations of Mercer's family have distinguished themselves. Famous direct descendants of Hugh Mercer were his grandson Virginia governor John Mercer Patton, his sons Confederate Lt. Col Waller T. Patton and Col. George Smith Patton, who in turn was an ancestor of General George S. Patton, Jr. Other direct descendants include another grandson Confederate General Hugh Weedon Mercer (CSA), songwriter Johnny Mercer, and Sergeant Christopher Mercer Lowe of the U.S. Army.[19]

Шаблон:Chart top Шаблон:Tree chart/start |- |+ Notable descendants of Hugh Mercer |- Шаблон:Tree chart Шаблон:Tree chart Шаблон:Tree chart Шаблон:Tree chart Шаблон:Tree chart Шаблон:Tree chart Шаблон:Tree chart Шаблон:Tree chart Шаблон:Tree chart Шаблон:Tree chart Шаблон:Tree chart Шаблон:Tree chart Шаблон:Tree chart Шаблон:Tree chart Шаблон:Tree chart/end Шаблон:Chart bottom

In popular culture

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References

Citations Шаблон:Reflist

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  1. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  2. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  3. ↑ 3,0 3,1 3,2 Шаблон:Cite book
  4. ↑ 4,0 4,1 Шаблон:Cite web
  5. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  6. ↑ 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
  7. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  8. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  9. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  10. ↑ * Шаблон:Cite book
  11. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  12. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  13. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  14. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  15. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  16. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  17. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  18. ↑ Site of Moulder's Battery
  19. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  20. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  21. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  22. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  23. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  24. ↑ 24,0 24,1 Шаблон:Cite web
  25. ↑ 25,0 25,1 25,2 25,3 25,4 Шаблон:Cite book
  26. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  27. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  28. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  29. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  30. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  31. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  32. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
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