OO /St 
 
THE LIFE OF 
 GENERAL HUGH MERCER 
 
FRONTISPIECE 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 GENERAL HUGH MERCER 
 
 With brief sketches of General George Wash 
 ington, John Paul Jones, General George Weedon, 
 James Monroe and Mrs. Mary Ball Washington, 
 who were friends and associates of General Mercer 
 at Fredericksburg ; also a sketch of Lodge No. 
 4, A. F. and A. M., of which Generals Washington 
 and Mercer were members; and a genealogical 
 table of the Mercer family. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN T. GOOLRICK 
 
 Illustrated 
 
 NEW YORK & WASHINGTON 
 THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 1906 
 
tsi/oy 
 
 COPTBIQHT, 1906, BY 
 JOHN T. QOOLRICK 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 General Hugh Mercer Frontispiece 
 
 OPPOSITE PAGE 
 
 Hugh Mercer as a country doctor in Pennsylvania. 26 
 
 The office and apothecary shop of Hugh Mercer, 
 Fredericksburg, Va 32 
 
 The Quaker Meeting House, Princeton, N. J 52 
 
 The battlefield of Princeton 54 
 
 The Clark House, Princeton, where Gen l Mercer 
 died 56 
 
 The monument to General Hugh Mercer at Fred 
 ericksburg, Va 68 
 
 The grave of General Mercer in Laurel-Hill Ceme 
 tery, Philadelphia, Pa., monument erected by 
 St. Andrews Society 70 
 
 The Rising Sun Tavern, Fredericksburg, Va 76 
 
 Kenmore, at Fredericksburg, where Major Lewis 
 lived 78 
 
 John Paul Jones 82 
 
 "The Sentry Box" the home of Mercer, Fred 
 ericksburg, Va 88 
 
 The home of Mary, the mother of Washington, 
 Fredericksburg, Va 92 
 
 The monument to Mary, the mother of Washington, 
 Fredericksburg, Va 98 
 
 General George Washington as a mason and mem 
 ber of Lodge No. 4 A. F. and A. M., Fredericks 
 burg, Va 100 
 
 M219735 
 
THIS book is affectionately dedicated to 
 my wife, a great-granddaughter of George 
 Mason, who was an intimate friend and 
 associate of General Hugh Mercer. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 INTRODUCTION is only necessary to 
 this Life of Mercer in order to return 
 thanks to others for what I have herein ob 
 tained from them, as well as to disclaim 
 any very marked originality for some 
 things herein written. For instance, I 
 could not and do not claim any great origi 
 nality for the brief description of the 
 battles of Culloden or of Princeton. Both 
 have been described so often and by so 
 many writers, that there is "nothing new 
 under the sun" to be said about them. I 
 only introduce them here that I may give 
 a full and complete history of the life of 
 Mercer ; without them I could not have done 
 so. I return thanks and acknowledge my 
 self under obligations to James D. Law, 
 Esq., of Germantown, Pa. ; Eev. J. Lindsay 
 Patton, Ashland, Ya.; Judge Beverly B. 
 Wellford, Bichmond, Va., and Corbin W. 
 Mercer, Esq., Bichmond, Va., for some 
 things that I have embodied in this small 
 volume, and which appear with quotation 
 marks. 
 
10 Introduction 
 
 I was constrained to write of General 
 Hugh Mercer because I thought that such a 
 life as he lived, and such a death as he died, 
 should be written about; and should be 
 written about by some one who is identi 
 fied with Fredericksburg, the home of Mer 
 cer. How perfectly or imperfectly I have 
 performed the task which I have voluntar 
 ily undertaken, I submit to the charitable 
 criticism of my readers. 
 
 Eespectfully, 
 
 JOHN T. GOOLBICK. 
 
 Fredericksburg, Va., March 1, 1906. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE Highlands of Scotland, land of 
 brown heath and shaggy wood "land of 
 the mountain and the flood" has always 
 been celebrated in song and story. Its 
 stern and wild mountains, its dark and si 
 lent glens, its deep-lying lochs beneath the 
 shadow of the hills, its silent, whirling 
 mists and sudden storms, are the scenes of 
 strange romance and ghastly tragedy. It 
 is a very playground for the novelist s ex 
 cited imagination and the poet s wildest 
 fancy. But withal, so barren in soil and 
 harsh in climate, that the inhabitants of the 
 Highlands early gave themselves up to the 
 delights of the chase, or the dangers of the 
 sea, the pursuit of arms, or the joy of 
 battle. 
 
 Picturesque in costume, splendid in mus 
 cular development, trained in the use of 
 arms, proud of their race, loyal to their 
 clan, they boasted their fidelity to their 
 friends, and that they never turned their 
 backs to a foe. Restless, inclined to travel, 
 quick to adapt themselves to new surround- 
 11 
 
12 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 ings, the Highlanders of Scotland sought 
 their fortunes abroad, rising to fame and 
 wealth in many a Continental country, be 
 coming the leaders in trade and commerce, 
 in Colonial enterprise and in war, in all 
 parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Fru 
 gal, industrious, persevering and brave, 
 success rewarded their undertakings. 
 Characterised beyond all else by loyalty to 
 their King, they were the most devoted of 
 the adherents of the ill-fated house of 
 Stuart, and they gathered around that fatal 
 standard with romantic devotion. To their 
 loyalty this land is indebted for not a few 
 of its best citizens and noblest heroes. The 
 land of the Highlanders Bonnie Scotland 
 has given to the world in all departments 
 of life, great men who have taken conspicu 
 ous parts in its history in war and peace. 
 The men from the land of Bobby Burns 
 have made their impress on the age and on 
 the people among whom they have lived, 
 and none occupies a higher niche in its Hall 
 of Fame than General Hugh Mercer. 
 
 Hugh Mercer was born in Aberdeen, 
 Scotland, in the year 1725. He descended 
 on his paternal side from a long line of min 
 isters of the Church of Scotland. The Eev. 
 William Mercer, his father, was in charge 
 of the Manse at Pittsligo, Aberdeenshire, 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 13 
 
 from 1720 to 1748, and although some biog 
 raphers of Mercer give the date of his birth 
 as 1721, the records of this church show 
 that he was baptised in 1726 ; it is therefore 
 thought now, that more accurate history 
 should place his birth in the year 1725. 
 On his mother s side he was closely related 
 to the Munro family; her name being Anna 
 Munro, daughter of Sir Eobert Munro, who 
 fought with conspicuous distinction in the 
 British Army at Fontenoy, on the Conti 
 nent, and elsewhere; and who, ordered 
 home to oppose the young Pretender, was 
 killed in 1746 while commanding British 
 troops at the Battle of Falkirk. 
 
 Mercer matriculated in the School of 
 Medicine of Marschall College in the year 
 1740, graduating in the year 1744. He had 
 hardly commenced the practice of his pro 
 fession ere Prince Charlie made his "dash 
 for a throne " which startled and, for a 
 while, stupefied the British by its daring 
 and brilliancy, but which was very ephem 
 eral in its existence. The Scotch, espe 
 cially those from the Highlands, were al 
 ways loyal to the House of Stuart, and 
 "Wha shall be King but Charlie!" as 
 it was played on the bagpipes by the kilted 
 Highlanders, his admiration for the people 
 whom the Pretender represented, and his 
 
14 The life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 convictions of the justice of his cause, 
 stirred up the martial and patriotic spirit 
 of Hugh Mercer, who joined Charles Ed 
 ward s Army as an Assistant Surgeon. 
 History and tradition are both silent as to 
 when Mercer "linked his fortune and his 
 fate" to the cause of the Pretender. 
 Whether he was on the fatal field of Fal- 
 kirk on January 17, 1746, we have no rec 
 ord; but on April 16, 1746, at Culloden, 
 near Inverness, he is found in the army of 
 Prince Charles. The Duke of Cumberland 
 was on that day in command of the Royal 
 forces against the Highlanders, and when 
 the sun went down on the field of carnage, 
 Mercer shared with his chieftain the gloom 
 of his defeat a defeat that marked the end 
 of the ambition of the Pretender and the 
 hopes of the Stuarts. The victorious shouts 
 of the army of the Duke sounded a veritable 
 dirge to a cause that was then irrevocably 
 lost. The last grand stand had been made, 
 and all was over. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott, with his splendid 
 genius for picturing and portraying, in the 
 "Tales of a Grandfather," gives a graphic 
 account of the Battle of Culloden; an ex 
 tract from which may not be inappropriate 
 to embody in this sketch. After narrating 
 the events of importance that led up to the 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 15 
 
 battle, the marching and the counter 
 marching of the armies of Prince Charles 
 and the Duke of Cumberland, and especi 
 ally the unsuccessful night attack on April 
 15th by the Army of the Pretender, Sir 
 Walter Scott wrote : 
 
 4 As the lines approached each other the 
 artillery opened their fire by which the 
 Duke of Cumberland s army suffered very 
 little and that of the Highlanders a great 
 deal, for the English guns being well served 
 made lanes through the ranks of the enemy, 
 while the French artillery scarcely killed a 
 man. To remain steady and inactive under 
 this galling fire would have been a trial to 
 the best-disciplined troops, and it is no 
 wonder that the Highlanders showed great 
 impatience under an annoyance peculiarly 
 irksome to their character; some threw 
 themselves down to escape the artillery, 
 some called out to advance, and a few broke 
 their ranks and fled. 
 
 "The cannonade lasted for about an 
 hour ; at length the Clans became so impa 
 tient that Lord George Murray was about 
 to give the order to advance, when the 
 Highlanders from the centre and right 
 wings rushed, without orders, furiously 
 down, after their usual manner of attack 
 ing, sword in hand, being received with 
 
16 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 heavy fire both of cannon and grape-shot. 
 They became so confused that they got hud 
 dled together in their onset, without any 
 distinction of Clans or regiments. Not 
 withstanding this disorder, the fury of 
 their charge broke through Munro s and 
 BurrePs regiments, which formed the left 
 of the Duke of Cumberland s line; but that 
 General had anticipated the possibility of 
 such an event, and had strengthened his 
 second line so as to form a steady support 
 in case any part of his first should give 
 way. The Highlanders, partially victori 
 ous, continued to advance with fury, and al 
 though much disordered and partly dis 
 armed (having thrown away their guns 
 on the very first charge), they rushed on 
 SempilPs Kegiment, in the second line, with 
 unabated fury. That steady corps was 
 drawn up three deep, the first rank kneel 
 ing, and the third standing upright. They 
 reserved their fire until the fugitives of 
 BurrePs and Munro s broken regiments 
 had escaped round the flanks and through 
 the intervals of the second line. By this 
 time the Highlanders were within a yard of 
 the bayonet point, when Sempill s battalion 
 poured in their fire with so much accuracy 
 that it brought down a great many of the 
 assailants, and forced the rest to turn back. 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 17 
 
 A few pressed on, but unable to break 
 through SempilPs Eegiment were bayon 
 eted by the first rank. The attack of the 
 Highlanders was the less efficient that on 
 this occasion most of them had laid aside 
 their targets, expecting a march rather 
 than a battle. 
 
 "While the right of the Highland line 
 sustained their national character, though 
 not with their usual success, the MacDon- 
 nalds on the left seemed uncertain whether 
 they would attack or not. It was in vain 
 Lord George Murray called out to them, 
 * Claymore, telling the murmurers of this 
 haughty tribe that if they behaved with 
 their usual valor they would convert the 
 left into the right and that he would in fu 
 ture call himself MacDonnald. It was 
 equally in vain that the gallant Keppoch 
 charged with a few of his near relations, 
 while his Clan, a thing before unheard of, 
 remained stationary. 
 
 4 The Chief was near the front of the 
 enemy and was exclaiming, with feelings 
 that cannot be appreciated, My God, have 
 the children of my tribe forsaken me? At 
 that instant he received several shots, 
 which closed his earthly account, leaving 
 him only time to advise his favorite nephew 
 to shift for himself. 
 
18 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 "The three regiments of the MacDon- 
 nalds were by this time aware of the rout 
 of their right wing, and retreated in good 
 order upon the second line. A body of 
 cavalry from the right of the King s army 
 was commanded to attack them on their re 
 treat, but was checked by a fire from the 
 French pickets, who advanced to support 
 the MacDonnalds. At the same moment 
 another decisive advantage was gained by 
 the Duke s army over the Highland right 
 wing. A body of horse making six hundred 
 cavalry, with three companies of Argyle- 
 shire Highlanders, had been detached to 
 take possession of the Park walls ; the three 
 companies of infantry had pulled down the 
 east wall of the inclosure and put to the 
 sword about a hundred of the insurgents to 
 whom its defense had been assigned. They 
 then demolished the western wall, which 
 permitted the dragoons, by whom they were 
 accompanied, to ride through the inclosure 
 and get out upon the open moor to the west 
 ward, and form so as to threaten the rear 
 and flank of the Prince s second line. 
 
 i Gordon of Abbachie, with his Lowland 
 Aberdeenshire regiment, was ordered to 
 fire upon these cavalry, which he did with 
 some effect. The Campbells then lined the 
 north wall of the inclosure and commenced 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 19 
 
 a fire upon the right flank of the Highland 
 ers second line. That line, increased by 
 the MacDonnalds, who retired upon it, still 
 showed a great number of men keeping 
 their ground, many of whom had not fired a 
 shot. Lord Elcho rode up to the Prince and 
 eagerly exhorted him to put himself at the 
 head of those troops who yet remained and 
 make a last exertion to recover the day and 
 at least die like one worthy of having con 
 tended for a crown." 
 
 But all this was too late the Pretender 
 had been defeated; and his army, broken 
 and shattered, fled from the field, hotly pur 
 sued by the Duke of Cumberland and his 
 army. Of the treatment of the fallen and 
 their allies, Sir Walter Scott thus writes : 
 "The soldiers had orders to exercise to 
 wards the unfortunate natives the utmost 
 extremities of war; they shot, therefore, 
 the male inhabitants who fled at their ap 
 proach; they plundered the houses of the 
 chieftains; they burnt the cabins of the 
 peasants; they were guilty of every out 
 rage against women, old age, and infancy, 
 and where the soldiers fell short of these 
 extremities it was their own mildness of 
 temper or that of some officer of gentler 
 mood which restrained the license of their 
 hand." 
 
20 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 And in conclusion, in his discussion of 
 this battle, its causes and its results, Sir 
 Walter Scott wrote: "Looking at the 
 whole in a general point of view, there can 
 be no doubt that it presents a dazzling pic 
 ture to the imagination, being a romance of 
 real life, equal in splendour and interest to 
 any which could be devised by fiction. A 
 primitive people, residing in a remote quar 
 ter of the empire and themselves but a 
 small portion of the Scottish Highlanders, 
 fearlessly attempted to place the British 
 Crown on the head of the last scion of those 
 ancient kings whose descent was traced to 
 their own mountains. 
 
 "This gigantic task they undertook in 
 favor of a youth of twenty-one, who landed 
 on their shore without support of any kind 
 and threw himself on their generosity. 
 They assembled an army in his behalf with 
 men unaccustomed to arms, the amount .of 
 the most efficient part of which never ex 
 ceeded two thousand; they defeated two 
 disciplined armies commanded by officers 
 of experience and reputation, penetrated 
 deep into England, approached within 
 ninety miles of the capital, made the Crown 
 tremble on the King s head, and were only 
 suppressed by concurrent disadvantages 
 which it was impossible for human nature 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 21 
 
 to surmount. It is, therefore, natural that 
 this civil strife should have been long the 
 chosen theme of the poet, the musician, and 
 the novelist. " 
 
 In his flight, the Pretender was like a 
 hare hunted by hounds. Flora MacDon- 
 nald, a Scottish maiden, foiled his pur 
 suers ; and at length he reached France in 
 safety. His loyal and loving followers 
 found refuge in any way possible, hunted 
 down, mercilessly butchered when caught. 
 The terrible tragedy of the battle was as 
 nothing compared to the butchery of these 
 fugitives by the relentless and implacable 
 Duke of Cumberland. Historians may dif 
 fer as to the right and righteousness of the 
 cause of Prince Charles Edward. None 
 can deny that William, Duke of Cumber 
 land, has rightly written his name as in 
 famous by his treatment of the fallen foe. 
 Campbell sweetly though sadly sang of 
 Culloden : 
 
 Lochiel, Lochiel, beware of the day 
 When the Lowlands shall meet thee in 
 
 battle array; 
 For a field of the dead rushes red on my 
 
 sight, 
 And the Clans of Culloden are scattered in 
 
 flight. 
 
22 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 They rally, they bleed, for their kingdom 
 
 and crown; 
 Woe, woe to the riders that trample them 
 
 down. 
 
 For dark and despairing my sight I may 
 
 seal, 
 But man cannot cover what God would 
 
 reveal ; 
 Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical 
 
 lore, 
 And coming events cast their shadows 
 
 before. 
 I tell thee, Culloden s dread echoes shall 
 
 ring 
 With the bloodhounds that bark for their 
 
 fugitive king. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HAVING, as has been before stated, fallen 
 under the shadow of a great sorrow by the 
 disastrous ending of the Battle of Culloden, 
 and having eluded the vigilance of the min 
 ions of the " Bloody Butcher, " Dr. Hugh 
 Mercer, in the fall of the year 1746, em 
 barked at Leith for America, landing a few 
 weeks thereafter at Philadelphia. He did 
 not remain long, however, in that city, but 
 made his home on the western borders of 
 the State of Pennsylvania, near what was 
 then known as Greencastle, now Mercers- 
 burg. And for some years he practised his 
 profession as a physician and, what was 
 customary in those days, as an apothecary. 
 In that then sparsely settled section, the 
 territory over which he rode, dispensing 
 calomel and using the lancet, was very 
 large. Among the varied experiences of 
 this eventful and heroic life, none proved 
 more helpful and beneficial than the ardu 
 ous, unselfish years spent as a country doc 
 tor in Colonial times on the frontier of civi 
 lisation in Pennsylvania, a profession for 
 
24 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 which he was well fitted by education and 
 training, and by the high qualities of en 
 durance, patience, skill and courage. For 
 the country doctor s life of that day needed 
 all the strength of body and of brain, the 
 steadfast will and tireless energy. It was a 
 wild and busy life in an unsettled region of 
 scattered homes ; distance and danger were 
 daily encountered, for the Indians still hov 
 ered upon the frontier, and life and liberty 
 were often imperiled by their unexpected 
 attacks. 
 
 To this strange chance of fate and for 
 tune came the soldier-surgeon of Culloden, 
 and here he lived and labored for many 
 years, amid privation and peril, dauntless 
 and devoted; friend, healer, counsellor, 
 benefactor to all within the circle of his 
 far-reaching ministry of comfort and cure 
 the country doctor of the past. How shall 
 we picture a life, a man, so worthy of repro 
 duction and remembrance? 
 
 God gives to every man 
 The virtue, temper, understanding, taste, 
 That lifts him into life, and lets him fall 
 Just in the niche he has ordained to fill. 
 
 Known to all the inhabitants of the re 
 gion round about, loved ancl welcomed 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 25 
 
 everywhere, believed in and looked up to 
 as one who not only healed the sick, but one 
 who strengthened the weak, comforted the 
 weary, and cheered the sorrowing, Hugh 
 Mercer s life as a country doctor day by 
 day in active duty, with saddle-bags filled 
 with remedies for human ills, the old-fash 
 ioned medicines and the ever-ready lancet 
 for bloodletting, was a splendid prepara 
 tion for the hardships and privations he 
 was in the future called upon to endure. A 
 life of hardship ennobled by duty well done, 
 and consecrated by self-sacrifice. 
 
 It was a rough school, but a thorough 
 one, in which the country doctor learned 
 the lessons of life. As he rode amid the 
 forest solitudes, vigilant, alert, or visited 
 the waiting homes to which his presence 
 brought succor and relief, his memories of 
 the past merged in duties of the present, 
 with only faith and fortitude as guides 
 upon the way, his life might have seemed 
 unsatisfying to a nature less hopeful, less 
 heroic. All honor to this man, and the 
 many like him, whose daily round of sym 
 pathetic toil is brightened by the approval 
 of his conscience and the benedictions of 
 suffering humanity. The country doctor s 
 lasting monument lives in the hearts that 
 loved and reverenced him; and no higher 
 
26 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 tribute to his memory can be written than 
 the tender and inspiring words of heavenly 
 recognition and reward, "I was sick and ye 
 visited me." 
 
 It was a history-making era, that of the 
 year of 1755 the time of Braddock s dis 
 astrous defeat by the French and Indians, 
 in his attempt to capture Fort Duquesne. 
 There and then George Washington s 
 splendid career began, and there Mercer 
 made his first public and prominent ap 
 pearance as a Captain in the ill-fated army 
 of Braddock, conspicuous for his bravery 
 on the memorable July 9, 1755, of which 
 has been said, "The Continentals gave the 
 only glory to that humiliating disaster. " 
 "History," says another, "furnishes few 
 pages so replete with instances of official 
 incompetence and consequent failure as 
 that expedition, yet in the list of its Colo 
 nial heroes, the name of Hugh Mercer 
 stands ever bright." In this engagement, 
 Mercer was severely wounded ; and, having 
 been left behind by his own army in its 
 panic-stricken flight, after a perilous tramp 
 through a trackless wild, he at length re 
 joined his comrades and again commenced 
 the work of healing the sick at his old lo 
 cality. 
 
 The Indians with their French allies be- 
 

 
 
 Hugh Mercer as a Country Doctor in Pennsylvania 
 
 OPPOSITE P. 26 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 27 
 
 coming very aggressive and warlike, its 
 residents for self-protection formed them 
 selves into military associations of which 
 Colonel Armstrong was made Commander. 
 In one of these companies Hugh Mercer 
 was made Captain. His commission as 
 such is dated March, 1756, and he was given 
 the supervision of a very large territory, 
 with Bridgeport (then called McDowell s 
 Fort) as his headquarters. 
 
 During all this time he practised as a 
 physician among the people and as surgeon 
 to the garrison. In one of these Indian 
 fights he was again wounded and aban 
 doned to his foes. Closely pursued by his 
 savage foes," says a very interesting his 
 torian, "he providentially found a place of 
 safety in the hollow trunk of a tree, around 
 which the Indians rested and discussed the 
 prospect of scalping him in the near future. 
 When they had taken their departure, he 
 took out in another direction and com 
 pletely outwitted them." Sick with his 
 wounds and worn out with his recent strug 
 gles, he began a lonely march of over a hun 
 dred miles through an unbroken forest. To 
 sustain existence, he was compelled to live 
 on roots and herbs, the carcass of a rattle 
 snake proving his most nourishing and pal 
 atable meal. He finally succeeded in re- 
 
28 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 joining his command at Fort Cumberland. 
 He was in command of one of the com 
 panies which captured an Indian settle 
 ment at Kittanning in 1756, but was again 
 wounded. In recognition and appreciation 
 of his services, sacrifices and sufferings in 
 these Indian wars, as well as his deeds of 
 daring, the Corporation of Philadelphia 
 presented him with a note of thanks and a 
 splendid memorial medal. 
 
 Mercer was placed in command of the 
 garrison at Shippensburg in the summer of 
 1757, and was promoted to the rank of Ma 
 jor in December of that year, and placed in 
 command of the forces of the province of 
 Pennsylvania west of the Susquehanna. In 
 that year, 1758, he was in command of a 
 part of the expedition of General Forbes 
 against Fort Duquesne. Whether Hugh 
 Mercer met George Washington at Brad- 
 dock s defeat, or at the headquarters of the 
 Forbes expedition against Fort Duquesne, 
 there seems to be some conflict of opinion 
 and statement among his biographers. The 
 time and place of that meeting is of no very 
 material moment. One thing seems to be 
 absolutely certain, that they did meet, and 
 an attachment sprang up between them 
 which lasted as long as Mercer lived. And, 
 further, that as a result of that meeting and 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 29 
 
 that attachment, on the advice and at the 
 suggestion of Washington, Virginia be 
 came the home of Hugh Mercer, and the 
 State of Pennsylvania lost him as a citizen. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 SOME TIME after the end of the French- 
 Indian wars on the western borders of 
 Pennsylvania, Hugh Mercer moved to 
 Fredericksburg, Virginia; and during his 
 residence in that town another Scotchman 
 lived there, a fellow-citizen, one whose 
 name was destined to "go down the ages, 
 sung by poets and sages " John Paul 
 Jones! John Paul had only one home in 
 America, and that was Fredericksburg. 
 There his brother, William Paul, lived and 
 died. There he lies buried. It was while 
 John Paul was in Fredericksburg that he 
 added Jones to his name, and from there 
 he went forth as a Lieutenant of the Con 
 tinental Navy. These two illustrious 
 Scotchmen, Hugh Mercer and John Paul 
 Jones, no doubt often met and talked of 
 the land of their birth beyond the seas. 
 Both, however, became illustrious in the 
 cause of the Colonies in their struggle to 
 be free from the domination of Great Brit 
 ain, even though Scotland was one of its 
 constituent territories. In Fredericksburg, 
 
 30 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 31 
 
 Mercer commenced the practice of his pro 
 fession as a physician, his residence for a 
 number of years being a two-story frame 
 house on the corner of Princess Ann and 
 Amelia streets. His office and apothecary 
 shop was located in the building now stand 
 ing at the corner of Main and Amelia 
 streets. 
 
 An English traveller in 1784 published an 
 account of a visit that he had made to Fred- 
 ericksburg during the Bevolution, and 
 made this statement : 
 
 I arrived in Fredericksburg and put up 
 at an inn kept by one Weedon, who is now 
 a general officer in the American Army, and 
 who was then very active and zealous in 
 blowing the flames of sedition. In Fred 
 ericksburg, I called upon a worthy and inti 
 mate friend, Dr. Hugh Mercer, a physician 
 of great eminence and merit, and, as a man, 
 possessed of almost every virtue and ac 
 complishment. Dr. Mercer was afterwards 
 Brigadier-General in the American Army, 
 to accept of which appointment I have rea 
 son to believe he was greatly influenced by 
 General Washington, with whom he had 
 been long in intimacy and bonds of friend 
 ship. For Dr. Mercer was generally of a 
 just and moderate way of thinking and pos 
 sessed of liberal sentiments and a generos- 
 
32 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 ity of principle very uncommon among 
 those with whom he embarked." 
 
 The inn to which this traveller referred 
 was < The Kising Sun Tavern, now stand 
 ing on upper Main Street; and Weedon, 
 who he said was actively engaged in blow 
 ing the flames of sedition, was brother-in- 
 law of Mercer. This intensely loyal son of 
 Great Britain was evidently a great ad 
 mirer of Hugh Mercer ; while he character 
 ised the so-called disloyal colonist as want 
 ing in that generosity of principle with 
 which Mercer, he said, was greatly en 
 dowed. 
 
 Life in the quiet town of Fredericksburg 
 during these years was uneventful. Mer 
 cer pursued the even tenor of his way as a 
 country doctor, always a welcome guest in 
 the hospitable homes of its people; he at 
 tended the meetings of Lodge No. 4, A. F. 
 & A. M., of which he and George Washing 
 ton were members, and occasionally paid a 
 visit to the future " Father of his Country" 
 at Mount Vernon. 
 
 Some time in the spring of 1775, a horse 
 man suddenly dashed up the quiet streets 
 of his town with the startling news that Vir 
 ginia s Koyal Governor, Dunmore, at Wil- 
 liamsburg, the capital, had removed the 
 Colonial store of gunpowder from the mag- 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 33 
 
 azine to the British man-of-war Magdalen. 
 This tyrannical and aggressive act upon the 
 part of Dunmore only intensified the mut- 
 terings of discontent already existing in 
 the colony, and added fuel to the flames 
 that were already burning. Messengers 
 were at once dispatched to the adjoining 
 counties urging decisive action, and the 
 horsemen and footmen came pouring in. A 
 meeting was then called, and an organiza 
 tion perfected of which we have this 
 record : 
 
 "Election of officers of minutemen and 
 regulars for Caroline, Spotsylvania, King 
 George and Stafford counties, Virginia, 
 September 12, 1775. At a meeting of the 
 select committee for the district of this 
 county, the counties of Caroline, Stafford, 
 King George and Spotsylvania, the follow 
 ing officers were elected : 
 
 Minutemen Hugh Mercer, Colonel ; 
 Mordecai Buckner, Lieutenant-Colonel ; 
 Robert Johnson, Major. 
 
 1 1 For Spotsylvania Lewis Willis, 
 George Stubblefield and Oliver Towles, 
 Captains; Robert Carter Page, Larkin 
 Chew, Francis Taliaf erro, Lieutenants ; 
 Henry Bartlett, Eobert Dudley and Wins- 
 low Parker, Ensigns." 
 
 And "Mercer s Minutemen" commenced 
 
34 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 the march to Williamsburg. Before pro 
 ceeding very far, it is said that George Ma 
 son and others urged them to reconsider 
 and wait for further and fuller information 
 and not to act too hastily; and the cooler 
 counsels of these advisers prevailed. Of 
 this, Alexander Spotswood, in a letter to 
 George Washington of date April 30, 1775, 
 wrote : 
 
 i I am extremely glad to inform you that 
 after a long debate it was agreed that we 
 should not march to Williamsburg. 
 
 Four days later, George Washington set 
 out from Mount Vernon for the Continen 
 tal Congress. The abandonment of the un 
 dertaking may have been brought about by 
 the want of ammunition, as Mercer wrote 
 to Washington on April 25, 1775 : 
 
 "We are not sufficiently supplied with 
 powder ; it may be proper to request of the 
 gentlemen who join us from Fairfax and 
 Prince William to come provided with an 
 over-proportion of that article. 
 
 Keturning to the town, they appointed a 
 Committee of Safety and adopted a set of 
 resolutions in which they pledged their sa 
 cred honor to resist all attempts against 
 their rights and liberties, from whatever 
 quarter they might be assailed, and agreed 
 to be in readiness to defend the laws, the 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 35 
 
 liberties and the rights of this or any sister 
 colony from unjust and wicked invasion by 
 force of arms, concluding with, "God save 
 the liberties of America. " It is claimed 
 that this Declaration is prior in time to 
 that of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, as it 
 is to that of the Continental Congress at 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 A thoughtful writer defines history 
 as "philosophy teaching by example." If 
 this be so, historic Fredericksburg ranks 
 high in the role of great names and great 
 deeds. Of the men who made our history 
 in Colonial days, before and during the 
 Revolutionary War, many were identified 
 with that old town, visited there, met to 
 gether in friendly converse or earnest coun 
 sel, and discussed the grave questions of 
 the hour England s oppressive measures 
 and the resistance of the Colonies, the 
 rights involved, the liberties invaded, and 
 the crisis inevitable. George Washington 
 was often there; Fredericksburg was the 
 home of his mother. Hugh Mercer lived 
 there as a physician; James Monroe, law 
 yer (who later led the advance of the 
 Americans in the battle of Trenton and af 
 terwards became President), also resided 
 there; John Marshall, afterward Chief Jus 
 tice, and George Mason of Gunston Hall, 
 
36 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 leaders of thought, patriots of action, all 
 found Fredericksburg a pleasant and con 
 venient meeting place in those days, omi 
 nous of threatening strife and deadly con 
 flict. 
 
 In September, 1774, the General Con 
 gress of the Colonies met in Philadelphia, 
 the assembled delegates representing the 
 best and wisest, the most determined and 
 patriotic men of the land. Peyton Ean- 
 dolph, of Virginia, was chosen president; 
 and a declaration of rights and a series of 
 resolutions were adopted which for solid 
 ity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wis 
 dom of conclusion 7 have never been ex 
 celled. The session ended on the 26th of 
 October, and it was recommended that an 
 other Congress meet in May, 1775. The 
 war-cloud was lowering. 
 
 In March, 1775, the Virginia Convention 
 assembled in St. John s Church, Richmond, 
 and Patrick Henry s magnetic eloquence, 
 his splendid rallying cry of "Liberty or 
 death," stirred all hearts to decision and 
 action. During these months of hesitation, 
 anxiety, possible compromise, yet contin 
 ued aggression, we can imagine this group 
 of patriots in Fredericksburg keenly alive 
 to the hazardous trend of public affairs 
 which culminated in open hostilities at Lex- 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 37 
 
 ington and Concord. The Eising Sun tav 
 ern was then the centre of public entertain 
 ment; and its genial host was Mr. George 
 Weedon, who afterwards became a Major- 
 General in the Continental Army. The 
 cosy apartments of the inn, its bright wood 
 fires and comfortable surroundings, in 
 duced good-fellowship and free exchange of 
 opinions. There was no need of argument, 
 as all were true patriots. It was surely as 
 picturesque a scene as history ever painted 
 those men in conversation at the * Rising 
 Sun!" Washington, wise and calm; Mer 
 cer, with patriotic power and battle memor 
 ies surging in his heart; impetuous Paul 
 Jones, eager for the fray; young Monroe, 
 summing up the wrongs of the Colonies, 
 and ready to avenge them; Marshall, the 
 learned jurist, the great advocate of jus 
 tice, and George Mason, one of the great 
 lights of history, whose genius illuminated 
 the cause and established its principles. 
 Can we not see them all, great men, whose 
 example lives still, whose names are blaz 
 oned on "the roll-call of the immortals. " 
 
 Madam Washington, as she was called, 
 lived not far from the Rising Sun tavern, 
 and would have enjoyed the earnest dis 
 cussions therein (which no doubt George 
 reported to her), as her sterling good sense 
 
38 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 and keen observation made her opinions of 
 decided weight and influence. 
 
 After the removal of the powder, above 
 referred to, the news of unjustifiable acts 
 of aggression by the Crown in other Colo 
 nies came thick and fast. Events with 
 startling rapidity followed one after an 
 other. Concord and Lexington had been 
 heard from ; Virginia s Patrick Henry had 
 uttered the words that were heard around 
 the world ; and the Revolution was inaugu 
 rated. Three regiments were formed. 
 Henry was made Colonel of the First, 
 elected over Hugh Mercer by one vote in a 
 contest for the colonelcy. 
 
 William Woodford of Caroline County 
 became Colonel of the Second, and Mercer, 
 Colonel of the Third Regiment, of which his 
 brother-in-law, Weedon, was the Lieuten 
 ant-Colonel ; and Thomas Marshall of Fau- 
 quier County, the father of John Marshall 
 who afterwards became Chief Justice, was 
 the Major. About this time, Mercer, who 
 had married Miss Isabella Gordon, daugh 
 ter of John Gordon, resided in what is 
 known as "The Sentry-Box, " on lower 
 Main Street, a house which is still in good 
 condition and well preserved. 
 
 The election of Mercer to the colonelcy 
 of this Third Regiment was a veritable case 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 39 
 
 of the "office seeking the man," for when 
 the storm-cloud of war first appeared, Mer 
 cer made an offer of his services to the Vir 
 ginia Convention in these expressive but 
 brief words : "Hugh Mercer will serve his 
 adopted country and the cause of Liberty 
 in any rank or station to which he may be 
 assigned, " words which found their echo 
 in what he said later. 
 
 "We are not engaged," said he, "in a 
 war of ambition, or I should not have been 
 here. Every man should be content to 
 serve in that station in which he can be 
 most useful. For my part, I have but one 
 object in view, and that is, the success of 
 the cause ; and God can witness how cheer 
 fully I would lay down my life to secure 
 it." 
 
 William Wirt, in his Life of Patrick 
 Henry, has this to say in connection with 
 Mercer s appointment: 
 
 i Three Eegiments of one thousand men 
 each was first determined on, and Patrick 
 Henry s friends nominated him for Colonel 
 of the First Regiment, it having been de 
 termined that this officer should be the 
 Commander-in-Chief of the forces to be 
 raised. The opposition united on Dr. Hugh 
 Mercer of Fredericksburg, who had served 
 with great distinction under Washington 
 
40 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 in the French and Indian War of 1755. It 
 is no wonder that men, with so much at 
 stake, should have hesitated to place in 
 command of their entire forces a man of 
 no military experience (Patrick Henry), 
 however great his abilities as a civilian. 
 The first ballot stood for Hugh Mercer 41, 
 for Patrick Henry 40, for Thomas Nelson 
 8, and for William Woodford 1. 
 
 The second ballot between the two high 
 est resulted in the election of Mr. Henry, 
 although Mercer and Woodford were offi 
 cers of experience and ability. Nothing 
 but the conviction of the majority that the 
 qualities which made Mr. Henry a great 
 political leader would also make him a good 
 Colonel can explain their action in prefer 
 ring him (Patrick Henry) as the Comman- 
 der-in-Chief of the Virginia forces. Mer 
 cer was objected to for being a North 
 Briton. In answer to this objection it was 
 admitted that Mercer was born in Scotland, 
 but that he came to America in his early 
 years and had constantly resided in it from 
 his first coming over; that his family and 
 all his other connections were in this col 
 ony; that he had uniformly distinguished 
 himself as a warm and firm friend of the 
 rights of America; and what was a princi 
 pal consideration, that he possessed great 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 41 
 
 military as well as literary abilities. Mr. 
 Nelson acknowledged Mercer s military 
 abilities, declared he would not oppose his 
 appointment, and hoped that he himself 
 would not be voted for. Mr. Woodford, 
 who was not at that time a member of the 
 Convention, spoke much in favor of Mer 
 cer, declaring that he was willing to serve 
 under him, as he knew him to be a fine 
 officer. 
 
 Mercer s election is thus recorded in 
 the proceedings of the Virginia Conven 
 tion: 
 
 "Wednesday, January 10, 1776, Conven 
 tion proceeded by ballot to the appointment 
 of a Colonel of the Third Regiment, and 
 there was a majority of the whole Conven 
 tion in favor of Hugh Mercer. Resolved, 
 therefore, that the said Hugh Mercer be 
 appointed Colonel of the Third Regiment. 
 
 When the Committee of Safety heard of 
 Mercer s appointment, it passed these reso 
 lutions : 
 
 "The committee of the county, to express 
 their approbation of the appointment of 
 Col. Mercer, and to pay a tribute justly 
 due to the noble and patriotic conduct 
 which that gentleman has uniformly pur 
 sued since the commencement of our dis 
 putes with the Mother Country, which was 
 
42 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 so strikingly displayed on that occasion, 
 entered into the following resolve: 
 
 t < 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of this com 
 mittee be presented to Colonel Hugh Mer 
 cer, Commander-in-Chief of the Battalion 
 of Minute Men in the District of this 
 County, and the counties of Caroline, Staf 
 ford, and King George ; expressing the high 
 sense of the importance of his appointment 
 to that station, and our acknowledgements 
 of his public spirit in sacrificing his pri 
 vate interest to the service of his Country. 
 "ALEXANDER DICK, Clerk." 
 
 And Colonel Mercer, at the head of his 
 regiment, with his fife and drum, marched 
 away from his adopted Virginia home, bid 
 ding good-by to his wife, children, and 
 friends "whom God ordained and the 
 fates decreed " he should never, in this 
 world, see again. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 COLONEL MERCER was ordered at once to 
 report to Williamsburg then the capital of 
 Virginia where there was a considerable 
 encampment of troops. A writer in a very 
 old periodical gives us an interesting ac 
 count of Mercer while there, from which we 
 quote : 
 
 "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 lofty spirit of patriotism, he 
 broke from the endearments of do 
 mestic 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 
 Colonel of the Army of Virginia, in drilling 
 and organizing the raw and ill-formed 
 masses of men who, under the varied names 
 
 43 
 
44 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 of sons of liberty, minutemen, volunteers, 
 and levies, presented the bulk without the 
 order, the mob without the discipline, of 
 an army. To produce obedience and subor 
 dination among men who had entered 
 into the war unpaid and unrestricted by 
 command, was a severe and invidious 
 task. 
 
 The courage, the fortitude, the self-pos 
 session of Colonel Mercer quailed not at 
 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 an 
 ecdote, illustrating, in a striking manner, 
 his characteristic promptitude and brav 
 ery: 
 
 Among the troops which arrived at Wil- 
 liamsburg, then the metropolis of Virginia, 
 was a company of riflemen from beyond 
 the mountains, commanded by Captain Gib 
 son. A reckless insubordination and a vio 
 lent 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 the inhabitants of the 
 city. Freed from all command, they roamed 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 45 
 
 through the camp, threatening with instant 
 death any officer who would presume to ex 
 ercise authority over them. In the height 
 of the rebellion 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 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 elo 
 quent and feeling manner, impressing on 
 them their duties as citizens and 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 con 
 finement, those under imprisonment were 
 released ; the whole company was ever after 
 as exemplary in deportment and conduct as 
 any troop in the army. 
 
 On June 5, 1776, Mercer was promoted 
 
46 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 and made a Brigadier-General in the Con 
 tinental Army, of which the following cor 
 respondence gives evidence: 
 
 "President of Congress to General Mer 
 cer, Philadelphia, June 6, 1776. Sir: I 
 am directed by Congress to inform you that 
 they yesterday appointed you a Brigadier- 
 General in the armies of the United Colo 
 nies, and that they request you will imme 
 diately on receipt hereof set out for head 
 quarters at New York; for which purpose 
 I am commanded to forward you this by 
 express. Should you take Philadelphia in 
 your way, I must beg you will do me the 
 favor to call at my house, as it is highly 
 probable I shall have something in charge 
 from Congress ready for you at that time. 
 I do myself the pleasure to enclose your 
 commission; and have the honor to be, sir, 
 
 "Your most obedient and very humble 
 servant, 
 
 " J. HANCOCK, President. 
 
 "To Brigadier-General Mercer, Vir 
 ginia. 
 
 "Williamsburg, June 15, 1776. 
 l Sir : I had the honor yesterday to re 
 ceive your letter of the 6th inst., together 
 with a commission, appointing me a Briga- 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 47 
 
 dier- General in the army of the United 
 Colonies. 
 
 Give me leave, sir, to request of you to 
 present to the honorable Congress my most 
 grateful acknowledgements in this distin 
 guished mark of their respect. 
 
 i I was on duty with part of my regiment 
 before Gwinn s Island, where Lord Dun- 
 more has taken possession, when your in 
 structions reached me; in consequence of 
 this I shall use my utmost diligence, after 
 settling the accounts of my regiment, to 
 wait on you in Philadelphia, I have the 
 honor to be, sir, 
 
 i Your most obedient, humble servant, 
 
 "HUGH MERCER. 
 
 "To the Honorable John Hancock, Es 
 quire. 
 
 General Washington soon afterward ap 
 pointed him to take full command of the 
 troops at Paulus Hook, and charged him 
 with the duty of directing the movement of 
 a large detachment of Pennsylvania Militia 
 and of protecting that point against a 
 threatening invasion by the enemy from 
 Staten Island. The latter part of the year 
 1776 the Colonists, with bated breath, 
 feared the end of their struggle for liberty 
 had come. New York and Rhode Island 
 
48 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 had been left in the hands of the British. 
 Washington slowly withdrew from New 
 Jersey, stubbornly disputing every effort 
 to bring on an engagement ; he crossed the 
 Delaware; as the Royalists approached he 
 retreated; at last he took refuge beyond 
 that river, and for a distance of many miles 
 he withdrew all the boats on its shores to 
 its right bank, in order to impede Cornwal- 
 lis in case he attempted to cross. The army 
 of the Colonists was poorly clad, many of 
 them barefooted; without tents, with few 
 blankets, and very scantily fed, they were 
 confronted by Cornwallis with a splendidly 
 equipped army, well provisioned and 
 clothed. 
 
 The British Hessians were then in pos 
 session of Trenton, and had to a large ex 
 tent the practical control of the State of 
 New Jersey. Sir William Howe boasted 
 that Philadelphia would fall when the Del 
 aware became frozen. At this critical junc 
 ture, on Christmas night, Washington 
 crossed the Delaware amid a blinding storm 
 of snow and sleet. His passage became 
 much impeded by floating ice, but with the 
 rallying cry of "Victory or death, " he 
 executed that brilliant movement on De 
 cember 26, at Trenton, which caused 
 the loyal though much depressed pa- 
 
The life of General Hugh Mercer 49 
 
 triots to renew their fast-wasting cour 
 age. 
 
 By this coup-de-main, Washington cap 
 tured in the battle fought in Trenton about 
 one thousand stands of arms, one thousand 
 prisoners, and many stores of ammunition, 
 with a large amount of provisions and 
 clothing. This, with a bounty of ten dol 
 lars in gold to his troopers, restored fresh 
 confidence in his rank and file, and caused 
 the Continentals whose term of enlistment 
 was about to expire to remain under the 
 new flag of the Colonists for some weeks 
 longer. For this brilliant victory histori 
 ans, with one accord, give credit and glory 
 to Mercer. Major Armstrong, his aide-de 
 camp, who was present at a council of offi 
 cers, and who was with Mercer at the cross 
 ing of the Delaware, is authority for the 
 statement that Mercer suggested this ex 
 pedition, fraught with so much peril and 
 uncertainty. 
 
 General Howe, who was amazed at 
 Washington s intrepid boldness, and 
 stunned by his great success, immediately 
 ordered Cornwallis by a forced march to 
 stop this onward advance. About five thou 
 sand men were pushed to Trenton, while a 
 larger body of men was held in reserve; 
 and on January 2d they met the advance 
 
50 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 line of the Continental Army at Laurens- 
 ville. The British drove them back, and 
 about sunset of that day reached Trenton. 
 Washington, having carefully guarded the 
 ford and bridge, drew up his army beyond 
 the Assanpenk. This skirmish caused a 
 great loss in killed and wounded, and the 
 fate of the struggling Colonies was held 
 tremblingly in the balance. Had Cornwal- 
 lis forced the light that night with his vastly 
 superior and much better equipped troops, 
 it is possible that the fate of the Colonists 
 would have been sealed. He was urged to 
 make the attack, but refused, giving as an 
 excuse the fatigue of his troops, saying 
 "that he had the old fox just where he 
 wanted him, and would catch him in the 
 morning," a morning which never came to 
 him, so far as catching the "old fox" was 
 concerned. 
 
 Washington was now confronted with 
 great peril. The army of Cornwallis in 
 front and the Delaware in the rear, retreat 
 was impossible; an open engagement was 
 nearly certain to result in defeat; and de 
 feat at this pivotal point in the life of the 
 Colonies meant the destruction of their 
 government and death to their hope for 
 that liberty for which they longed and had 
 suffered and sacrificed so much. At a coun- 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 51 
 
 cil of war held in General Mercer s head 
 quarters that night, the determination and 
 decision was reached to withdraw the Con 
 tinental forces from in front of the enemy 
 and go around him and attack the detach 
 ment then at Princeton; for by the Provi 
 dence of God, the roads were made pass 
 able by being frozen, or else such a perilous 
 expedition could not have been accom 
 plished. 
 
 The pickets of the two armies were with 
 in two hundred yards of one another, and 
 only a small stream, called the Assanpenk, 
 was between them. In order to deceive 
 the enemy, a long line of fire was kept up 
 in Washington s front while his army was 
 slowly on its way to Princeton, and thus 
 deceived, the enemy slept. The "old fox" 
 had escaped, as Cornwallis, much to his dis 
 may, found in the morning. 
 
 A woman guided the Continental Army 
 on that march beset with so many perils 
 and difficulties. A woman! Her loyalty, 
 her devotion, her sacrifice, and her suffer 
 ings for the cause of the Colony have given 
 and shall ever give her all honor, praise, 
 and gratitude. 
 
 Washington passed safely around the 
 post of General Leslie at Maidenhead, but 
 his progress was so slow that it was sun- 
 
52 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 rise when he reached Stonybrook, about 
 two miles from Princeton. He formed his 
 column at the Quaker meeting house, which 
 is still well preserved, at Princeton. The 
 van and rearguard was composed of Con 
 tinental soldiers who had bared their 
 breasts to many a storm of shot and shell ; 
 the center was composed of troops who 
 were first baptized with fire at Trenton. 
 Washington ordered forward a detachment 
 of about four hundred men under Mercer, 
 consisting of the First Virginia Kegiment, 
 Sham wood s Regiment from Maryland, and 
 Colonel Haslett s Delaware Regiments, 
 with NeaPs Battery, to seize a bridge at 
 Worth s Mill. This detachment marched 
 to the left from the road that leads along 
 the brook, while Washington took a by-road 
 to the right, in the rear of the Clark house ; 
 this road led directly to Princeton. 
 
 The Seventeenth, the Fortieth, and the 
 Fifty-fifth British regiments, and three 
 troops of Dragoons, had slept that night at 
 Princeton, and had already begun their 
 march to Trenton. The night had been 
 dark and dreary, and the morning was se 
 verely cold ; the Seventeenth Kegiment hav 
 ing crossed the bridge, occupied a hill be 
 yond it. 
 
 Mercer s presence was revealed at day- 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 53 
 
 break, and Mawhood at once counter 
 marched his regiment and crossed the 
 bridge at Worth s Mill before Mercer could 
 reach it, each side being surprised by the 
 presence of the other. Each army tried to 
 gain the high ground west of Clark s house. 
 The Colonists reached it first, and from be 
 hind a worm fence opened fire, which was 
 quickly responded to by the British. 
 
 The British troops charged after the 
 third volley, and the Colonists were driven 
 back in disorder before a bayonet charge 
 from a force vastly superior in numbers. 
 At this point General Mercer dismounted 
 from his horse, which had been disabled, 
 and tried vainly to rally his men; while he 
 was doing so, he was knocked down by the 
 butt-end of a musket in the hand of a Brit 
 ish trooper, who demanded that he should 
 surrender, which he refused to do. He was 
 then bayoneted and left for dead on the 
 battle-field. (This spot has been marked 
 by the erection of a white pillar.) 
 
 As soon as Washington heard this firing, 
 he ordered forward the Pennsylvania Mi 
 litia and Moulder s Battery to the assist 
 ance of Mercer ; thus reinforced, the flight 
 of the Continentals was stopped, and the 
 British were made to halt in their pursuit. 
 At this critical moment Washington ap- 
 
54 The Life of General Hugh. Mercer 
 
 peared in person, and taking in the situa 
 tion of affairs at a glance, he waved his hat 
 and cheered on his troops. Washington 
 was now between the firing lines of both ar 
 mies, and was in great danger and great 
 peril. Moulder s Battery poured volley af 
 ter volley into the ranks of the enemy, and 
 the roar of musketry followed, as the brave 
 Rhode Islanders and the Virginia Seventh 
 swung, with other Continentals, into line, 
 causing the enemy to break and fly, fol 
 lowed by victorious shouts from the Amer 
 ican Army. 
 
 As the smoke of battle cleared away, it 
 revealed Washington unharmed. Colonel 
 Fitzgerald, his aide-de-camp, galloped to 
 his side and said, * Thank God, your excel 
 lency is safe!" Washington replied, 
 "Away, my dear Colonel, and bring up the 
 troops ; the day is our own. 
 
 The rout of the British was complete. 
 Mawhood escaped with some of his scat 
 tered and shattered troops to Maidenhead. 
 Some fled up Stonybrook ; many were cap 
 tured by a body of cavalry from Philadel 
 phia. 
 
 General St. Clair met on this retreat the 
 Fifty-fifth Regiment of British soldiers and 
 quickly put them to flight ; a portion of the 
 Fortieth Regiment, which had not been in 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 55 
 
 the engagement, took refuge in Nassau 
 Hall, Princeton, and were captured. 
 
 And thus on the morning of January 3, 
 1777, the Battle of Princeton, which was of 
 short duration, but momentous of great re 
 sults, was fought and won; and the shout 
 of victory that commenced there was not 
 hushed until at Yorktown the end came 
 an end which marks the beginning of our 
 Eepublic, which is to-day the wonder of the 
 world. 
 
 It is needless and unnecessary in this bi 
 ography of General Mercer to recount the 
 further movements, marches, and counter 
 marches of Washington and his army. In 
 this battle General Mercer, "who seems to 
 have excited the brutality of the British by 
 the gallantry of his resistance, " was 
 stabbed by their bayonets in seven different 
 parts of his body, and they inflicted on his 
 head many blows with the butt-end of their 
 muskets, only ceasing this butchery when 
 they believed him dead. 
 
 As soon after the battle as possible, Gen 
 eral Mercer was removed to an adjacent 
 farmhouse, owned by Mr. Clark, where 
 Mrs. Clark and her daughter tenderly 
 nursed him, being assisted by Major Lewis, 
 who was delegated by General Washington 
 to go there for that purpose. Dr. Bush, of 
 
56 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 Philadelphia, and Dr. Archibald Alexan 
 der, of Augusta County, Virginia, who was 
 then a surgeon of the Virginia troops, were 
 at Mercer s bedside doing everything pos 
 sible to alleviate his sufferings, which were 
 intense and acute. Their services and min 
 istrations were without avail, for on Janu 
 ary 12, 1777, he died in the arms of Major 
 Lewis. The angel of death wooed him to a 
 brighter and better land, and the recording 
 angel wrote in the great book, "Well 
 done." 
 
 He had willingly sacrificed his life for the 
 liberties of the people of his adopted land. 
 
 "For whether on the scaffold high, 
 
 Or in the battle s van, 
 The noblest death that man can die 
 Is when he dies for man. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 DESIRING to give the full benefit of what 
 others thought and said of General Mercer 
 and the great value of his services to the 
 struggling Colonies, it cannot be thought 
 inappropriate for me to reproduce here 
 what has already been written of him, es 
 pecially by those who were near him in the 
 times of which they wrote. Among those 
 was General James Wilkinson, who says : 
 
 "The first fire was delivered by General 
 Mercer, which the enemy returned with a 
 volley and a sudden charge; many of our 
 men being armed with rifles, were forced, 
 after the third round, to abandon the fence, 
 and fled in disorder. On hearing the fire, 
 General Washington directed the Pennsyl 
 vania Militia to support General Mercer, 
 and in person led them on, with two pieces 
 of artillery under Capt. Wm. Moulder, of 
 the city of Philadelphia, who formed a bat 
 tery on the right of Thomas Clark s house; 
 the enemy pursued the detachment of Gen 
 eral Mercer as far as the brow of the de 
 clivity, etc. At the time General Mercer en- 
 
 57 
 
58 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 gaged the Seventeenth Eegiment, under 
 Colonel Hand, and endeavored by a right 
 movement to turn the enemy s left flank, 
 etc." 
 
 In this affair our numerical loss was in 
 considerable it did not exceed 30, and only 
 14 were buried in the field; but it was of 
 great magnitude in worth and talents. 
 Colonels Haslett and Porter, Major Morris, 
 and Capt. Wm. Shippen were respected in 
 their corps; Captains Fleming and Neal 
 presented fair promise of professional ex 
 cellence ; but in General Mercer was lost a 
 chief who, for education, experience, tal 
 ents, 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 manner in which 
 he was wounded is an evidence of the ex 
 cess to which the common soldiery are li 
 able in the heat of action, especially when 
 irritated by the loss of favorite officers. His 
 way being obstructed, when advancing, by 
 a post and rail fence in front of the or 
 chard, it may be presumed that the General 
 dismounted voluntarily, for he was on foot 
 when the troops in the front hesitated, be 
 came confused, and soon gave way, while 
 the few regulars in the rear could not 
 check the dastardlv retreat. Ere the for- 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 59 
 
 tune of the day was changed and victory 
 perched on the patriot standard, the heroic 
 Mercer fell. Bushing forward to rally his 
 broken troops, and stimulating them by 
 voice and example, his horse was shot from 
 under him, and he fell, dangerously wound 
 ed, among the columns of the advancing 
 enemy. Being thus dismounted, he was in 
 stantly surrounded by a number of British 
 soldiers, with whom, when they refused him 
 quarter, he fought desperately with drawn 
 sword until he was completely overpow 
 ered. Excited to brutality by the gallantry 
 of his resistance, they stabbed him with 
 their bayonets in seven different parts of 
 his body, and inflicted many blows on his 
 head with the butt-ends of their muskets; 
 nor did they 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 George Lewis, of the 
 army, the nephew of General Washington, 
 whom the uncle had commissioned to watch 
 over the last moments of his expiring 
 friend. His latter hours were soothed by 
 the skillful and affectionate attendance of 
 the distinguished Dr. Eush. He complained 
 much of his head, and frequently remarked 
 to his surgeon that "there was the princi 
 pal danger/ and Dr. Eush, in speaking of 
 
60 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 his patient s suffering, always ascribed his 
 death more to the blows on the head than 
 to the bayonet wounds, although several of 
 these were attended with extreme danger. 
 
 In a small house not far distant from the 
 blood-red plain of carnage and death, but 
 far away from the soothing consolations of 
 domestic affection, this distinguished mar 
 tyr of liberty breathed his last. 
 
 The mangled body was removed under a 
 military escort from Princeton to Phila 
 delphia, and exposed a day in the Coffee 
 house, with the idea 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 Sun 
 day evening, died, near Princeton, of the 
 wounds he received in the engagement at 
 that place on the 3rd instant, Hugh Mercer, 
 Esquire, Brigadier-General in the Conti 
 nental Army. On Wednesday his body was 
 brought to this city, and on Thursday bur 
 ied on the south side of Christ Church, 
 with military honors, attended by the Com 
 mittee of Safety, the members of the As 
 sembly, gentlemen of the army, and a num 
 ber of the most respectable inhabitants of 
 this city. The uniform character, exalted 
 abilities, and intrepidity of this illustrious 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 61 
 
 officer will render his name equally dear to 
 America, with 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 question of our independence was now 
 no longer a matter of doubt. General Mer 
 cer s elevated character, lofty heroism, and 
 brutal murder excited a deep and affection 
 ate sympathy throughout all the Colonies. 
 General Washington, in an official letter to 
 the Continental Congress, thus alluded to 
 Generals Mercer and Warren, Congress 
 having, on April 7, 1777, resolved that a 
 monument should be erected at Boston to 
 the memory of General Warren, and one at 
 Fredericksburg to General Mercer : 
 
 i The honors Congress has decreed to 
 the memory of Generals Warren and Mer 
 cer afford me the highest pleasure. Their 
 character and fortitude 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 ac 
 tions secure to themselves the same right to 
 the grateful tributes of their country. 7 
 
 On January 15, 1777, Washington wrote 
 to Mr. Joseph Reed: 
 
62 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 "When you see General Mercer, be so 
 good as to present my best wishes to him 
 and congratulations (if the state of his 
 health will admit of it) on his recovery 
 from death. You may assure him that 
 nothing but the confident assertion to me 
 that he was either dead, or within a few 
 minutes of dying, and that he was put into 
 as good a place as I could remove him to, 
 prevented his seeing me after the action 
 and pursuit at Princeton." 
 
 When that letter was written the hero 
 of Princeton had passed to the Great Be 
 yond. A farther evidence and expression 
 of the high estimation in which General 
 Mercer was held by Washington is found 
 in a letter from the latter to General Liv 
 ingston, dated from headquarters, July 6, 
 1776, 5 o clock p. M., in which he wrote : 
 
 * General Mercer has just set off for Jer 
 sey. In his experience and judgment you 
 may repose great confidence. He will pro 
 ceed to Amboy after conferring with you. 
 You will please to keep me constantly in 
 formed of the proceedings of the enemy, 
 and be assured of every assistance and at 
 tention. 
 
 In the Journal of the Continental Con 
 gress for June 3 and July 19, 1776, 
 what was known as the Flying Camp was 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 63 
 
 constituted of ten thousand men, to be put 
 under the command of such a Continental 
 officer as General Washington should di 
 rect, and by his direction they assembled 
 at Amboy, New Jersey, under the command 
 of General Mercer. 
 
 General Washington, in another letter to 
 General Livingston, of date July 5, 1776, 
 referring to Mercer said: "His judgment 
 and experience may be depended on ; " and 
 on January 5, 1777, in his official report to 
 Congress, of the Battle of Princeton, after 
 describing the battle and the capture of 
 prisoners, etc., he said: "This piece of 
 good fortune is counterbalanced by the loss 
 of the brave and worthy General Mercer." 
 
 Nothing is needed further to show how 
 the great Washington regarded Hugh Mer 
 cer, and to this I will add what was said of 
 him by Lafayette on his last visit to this 
 country. 
 
 The conversation in a brilliant company 
 turning on the prominent men of the Bevo- 
 lution, one of the company observed to him 
 that he, General Lafayette, was, of course, 
 acquainted with General Mercer, not recol 
 lecting 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, 
 
64 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 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." 
 
 At Princeton the high tide of the Revolu 
 tion was reached. Before then, gloom had 
 settled on the cause of the Colonies. The 
 Tories, with their "I told you so," pre 
 dicted and prophesied a humiliating defeat, 
 and the loyal Colonists began to doubt and 
 despair. After that battle the bright sun 
 shine of hope settled on this fair land of 
 ours, and from that point the army of 
 Washington fought to conquer ; for the vic 
 tory of Princeton not only encouraged the 
 doubting and despairing rebels, as the Col 
 onists were called, but it brought to them 
 the recognition and alliance of France. 
 That victory, however, was dearly gained, 
 for amidst the exultant charge of our vic 
 torious legions could be heard the dying 
 groans of that pure patriot the brave and 
 gallant Mercer. 
 
 "What death could finer laurel buy? 
 
 What grander ending can there be 
 Than for a noble man to die 
 
 To help to make his country free? 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 65 
 
 Although the day was dearly bought, 
 Twas there the Tyrant s doom was 
 sealed, 
 
 And not in vain the fight was fought 
 When Mercer fell on Princeton Field. 
 
 His sword will waste away with rust, 
 
 And tho twere wrapped in cloth of 
 
 gold, 
 Within the grave his precious dust 
 
 In time will mingle with the mold ; 
 But he, himself, is canonized, 
 
 If saintly deeds such fame can give, 
 For long as Liberty is prized 
 
 HUGH MERCER S NAME SHALL SURELY 
 LIVE." 
 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 i 
 
 ON JANUARY 31, 1777, the Continental 
 Congress passed the following resolution: 
 1 That a committee of four be appointed to 
 consider what honors are due to the mem 
 ory of General Mercer, who died on the 
 12th instant, of wounds received on the 3d 
 of the same month, in fighting against the 
 enemies of American liberty, near Prince 
 ton. The members of that committee were 
 the Hon. Messrs. Rush, Heynard, Page, and 
 S. Adams. On April 8, 1777, that com 
 mittee reported "That a monument be 
 erected to the memory of General Mercer 
 at Fredericksburg, in the State of Virginia, 
 with the following inscription: 
 
 66 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 67 
 
 Sacred to the memory of 
 
 HUGH MERGER, 
 Brigadier-General in the Army of 
 
 The United States. 
 
 He died on the 12th of January, 1777, 
 of the wounds he received on the 
 
 3rd of the same month, 
 
 Near Princeton, in New Jersey, 
 
 Bravely defending the 
 
 Liberties of America. 
 
 The Congress of the United States, 
 
 In testimony of his virtues and their 
 
 gratitude, 
 Have caused this monument to be erected. 
 
 The report of the committee was, how 
 ever, never executed. Under that resolu 
 tion no monument was ever built; why, no 
 one knows. Nations, like some individuals, 
 soon forget. For more than a century did 
 this Republic fail in its duty to the memory 
 of the gallant Mercer. At last the con 
 science, as well as the sense of justice, of 
 the nation was aroused. Hence by an act 
 of Congress, approved June 28, 1902, the 
 resolution of 1777 was directed by Congress 
 to be carried into effect, and at Fredericks- 
 burg, in the State of Virginia, there has 
 been a monument erected to perpetuate the 
 fame and name of Hugh Mercer. And it 
 
68 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 is well, "lest we forget, lest we forget." 
 The same epitaph is engraved on this mon 
 ument that was prescribed in the resolu 
 tions of 1777. The City of Philadelphia 
 paid the memory of Mercer a great tribute 
 by giving his remains a public funeral, 
 which it is said 30,000 people attended. He 
 was buried in the graveyard of Christ 
 Church. In 1817 his son visited his grave ; 
 the old sexton a Mr. Dolley who had at 
 tended the funeral of the General, was 
 there alone. Under the grass on the south 
 side of the brick enclosure was found a 
 plain and unadorned marble slab, inscribed 
 Gl. M. In memory of Gen 1 Hugh Mercer, 
 who fell at Princeton, January 3rd, 1777." 
 The St. Andrew s Society afterward re 
 moved his remains to the Laurel Hill Ceme 
 tery and erected a monument to his mem 
 ory, which was dedicated with imposing 
 ceremonies on Thursday, November 26, 
 1840; on which occasion Wm. B. Reed, 
 Esq., grandson of Adjutant-General Reed, 
 of the Revolution, delivered a beautiful ad 
 dress. General Mercer had joined the St. 
 Andrew s Society in Philadelphia, in 1757. 
 On the front die of this monument, etc., is 
 the following inscription: 
 
The Monument to Gen. Hugh Mercer at Fredericksburg, Va. 
 
 OPPOSITE P. 6< 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 69 
 
 Dedicated to the memory of 
 GENERAL HUGH MERCER, 
 
 Who fell 
 For the sacred cause 
 
 of 
 Human Liberty 
 
 and 
 American Independence, 
 
 in 
 
 The Battle of Princeton. 
 
 He poured out his blood for a generous 
 
 principle. 
 
 Left-hand side of die : 
 
 The St. Andrew s Society 
 
 of Philadelphia 
 Offer this humble tribute 
 
 To the memory of 
 An illustrious brother. 
 When a grateful posterity shall bid the 
 trophied Memorial rise to the martyrs who 
 sealed with their blood the Charter of an 
 Empire 7 s Liberties, there shall not be want 
 ing a monument to him whom 
 
 Washington 
 
 Mourned as "The Worthy and Brave 
 MERCER." 
 
70 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 Eight-hand side of die : 
 
 General Mercer, a physician of Freder- 
 icksburg, in Virginia, was distinguished for 
 his skill and learning, his gentleness and 
 decision, his refinement and humanity, his 
 elevated honour and his devotion to the 
 great cause of civil and religious liberty. 
 
 In the historical paintings of the Battle 
 of Princeton by Peale, at Princeton, and by 
 Trumbull at New York, General Mercer is 
 given a prominent position. And the states 
 of Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and 
 New Jersey, have by solemn and appropri 
 ate acts of their respective Legislatures, 
 named a county " Mercer " in his honor. 
 On October 1, 1897, a bronze tablet was 
 unveiled in Princeton, bearing this inscrip 
 tion : 
 
 "To the memory of General Hugh Mer 
 cer, the revered martyr of American Inde 
 pendence. Born in Scotland in 1720; edu 
 cated as a physician ; emigrated to America 
 in 1747; was appointed by Congress, June 
 5th, 1776, a Brigadier-General in the Amer 
 ican Army; was mortally wounded at the 
 Battle of Princeton, January 3rd, 1777 ; and 
 died in the house now standing near this 
 spot January 12th, 1777. This tablet was 
 
The Grave of General Mercer in Laurel Hill Cemetery, 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa., with Monument Erected 
 
 by St. Andrew s Society 
 
 OPPOSITE P. 7O 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 71 
 
 erected by the Mercer Engine Company No. 
 3 of Princeton, N. J., October 1st, 1897, at 
 the semi-centennial celebration. " 
 
 On this occasion Judge Beverly E. Well- 
 ford, of Richmond, Va., and Dr. Henry C. 
 Cameron, of Princeton, made eloquent and 
 appropriate historical orations. 
 
 In November, 1899, the Hon. Henry W. 
 Green, of Trenton, N. J., presented a hand 
 some portrait of General Mercer to the 
 Mercersburg Academy of Pennsylvania; 
 and in doing so, among other things, said : 
 
 "His life record shows him as a soldier, 
 brave and courageous; as a physician, 
 learned in his profession ; as a scholar, well 
 read and of generous attainments ; as a pa 
 triot, pure and impulsive; as a Christian, 
 self-sacrificing and true. Few lives illume 
 the page of national history with kindlier 
 glow than that of Mercer. Fortunate the 
 town with such a namesake; honored the 
 school that bears his name ; glorified the na 
 tion in whose cause he laid down that most 
 precious of his possessions his life." 
 
 Hugh Mercer was an alumnus of Mar- 
 schal College and the University of Aber 
 deen, Scotland, and this university recog 
 nizes him as one of its most illustrious stu 
 dents. In its annual list of honored alumni, 
 he is one of the three chosen to represent 
 
72 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 the profession of arms ; the other two being 
 Field-Marshal James Keith, the distin 
 guished officer in the service of Frederick 
 the Great, and Sir James Outram, the 
 " Bayard of India, " 
 
 Congress, on motion of Thomas Jeffer 
 son, in 1784 made an appropriation for the 
 education of General Mercer s youngest 
 son, Hugh, who died at his residence, "The 
 Sentry Box," December 2, 1853. Another 
 son, John, a distinguished lawyer, died 
 September 30, 1817; and his only daugh 
 ter, Anna Gordon, who married Eobert Pat- 
 ton, died in Fredericksburg, Va,, May 12, 
 1832. General Hugh W. Mercer, of Savan 
 nah, Ga., a gallant officer in the Confeder 
 ate Army, was a grandson of General Mer 
 cer, and the late John M. Patton, another 
 grandson, was a member of Congress from 
 the Fredericksburg District under Jack 
 son s administration, and was acting-Gov 
 ernor of Virginia in 1840. 
 
 Now as the end of the story of the life 
 of Hugh Mercer in this work approaches, 
 by way of recapitulation it behooves us to 
 ask, What were the most attractive and po 
 tential elements of that life? We would 
 say, Fidelity to principle, fixedness of pur 
 pose, faithfulness in the discharge of the 
 obligations imposed by citizenship, with a 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 73 
 
 fearlessness that knew no limitation when 
 duty and obligation joined in demanding 
 energetic action. To realize that this is 
 true, the reader need only be reminded of 
 what was accomplished by Mercer, and how 
 that accomplishment was brought about. 
 We find him at Culloden obeying every in 
 spiration of loyalty to Scotland and Scot 
 tish traditions when he championed the 
 cause of the Pretender. To have done oth 
 erwise would have been contrary to every 
 dictate of duty as it was impressed on Scot 
 land itself. When he became a resident of 
 America, on the frontier of Pennsylvania, 
 he felt himself obliged by the very highest 
 and holiest obligations of citizenship to im 
 peril his life in many Indian wars in order 
 to preserve the lives and protect the homes 
 of the people among whom he lived. When 
 the tocsin of war sounded, and the Colo 
 nies "struck for liberty" and for freedom 
 from the intolerable and tyrannical aggres 
 sions of Great Britain, being impressed 
 with the right and righteousness of the 
 cause of the Colonies, he at once offered his 
 services in their behalf, gave up his life for 
 the cause which he espoused, and died that 
 liberty might live. 
 
 His life was a strenuous one, full of ex 
 acting and unselfish work for others : As a 
 
74 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 country doctor, ministering to the sick and 
 comforting the suffering; as a Mason, 
 teaching by precept and by example the 
 cardinal doctrines of the craft, the father 
 hood of God and the brotherhood of man ; 
 as a member of the church, expressing by 
 his walk and conversation the faith he felt 
 in the Savior of men, whom he humbly fol 
 lowed ; as the head of his home, in the God- 
 given capacity of husband and father, ever 
 directing its affairs and executing its du 
 ties, making his home life spotless and 
 stainless ; as a citizen, evading no obligation 
 and avoiding no demand imposed upon that 
 citizenship. He was a soldier always, vigi 
 lant, obedient and loyal; an officer whose 
 tactics were of the onward, never backward 
 order, counselling against evacuation of 
 strategic positions, even though it seemed 
 impossible to retain them, with judgment 
 that could be always relied on, said the 
 great Washington. When confronted by 
 seemingly insurmountable obstacles, he 
 suggested movements by which superiority 
 in numbers could be overridden by superi 
 ority in forethought and decisive action. He 
 was brave without being desperate ; he was 
 a good disciplinarian without being a mar 
 tinet. In his vocabulary there was no such 
 word as surrender. He was willing t to 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 75 
 
 do, dare or die for the flag under which he 
 enlisted ; he unsheathed his sword in honor, 
 and never was it dishonored to his dying 
 day ; he was the hero of Princeton, with no 
 one to pluck that laurel from his brow, and 
 is entitled to the glory that came from that 
 victory which resulted in a Confederation 
 of States that has made the Western Hem 
 isphere the admiration and the wonder of 
 the world. He is entitled to the gratitude 
 of all liberty-loving America. His life was 
 beautiful and complete in its symmetry, 
 and was both a benediction and benefac 
 tion. The memory of such a man cannot 
 perish from the face of the earth, but shall 
 be as eternal as Truth. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THIS narrative would not be complete 
 without a short story of the friends of 
 Hugh Mercer at Fredericksburg his daily 
 associates, who communed with him at the 
 sessions of the Masonic Lodge; who sat 
 Around the old open fireplace at the Eising 
 Sun tavern and talked with him about the 
 gossip of the town ; who watched and waited 
 with him, in front of the post-office, for the 
 coming of the rumbling, rattling old stage 
 with its weekly mail and its belated news 
 from Williamsburg. It is not, however, my 
 purpose to write a biography of these peo 
 ple, but only a short sketch of them as their 
 lives touched that of Mercer s, and as these 
 distinguished people were connected and 
 associated with Fredericksburg; and, as 
 Washington stands in the forefront of this 
 nation s life, so he stands, peerless and 
 high above all others, in the life of this 
 town. 
 
 76 
 
- * 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 77 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 He who was " first in war, first in 
 peace, and first in the hearts of his country 
 men" was a very small boy when his 
 father, Augustine Washington, died on his 
 place, since called "The Washington 
 Farm," opposite Fredericksburg. He went 
 to school in that town, and in after-life 
 referred to it as the town of his youth and 
 maturing manhood. Just before the com 
 mencement of the Revolution, his mother 
 and her family moved into the town. Wash 
 ington, in his maturer years, visited his 
 mother there frequently. He and his bride, 
 en route from Williamsburg to Mount Ver- 
 non, came by Fredericksburg to receive, no 
 doubt, his mother s blessing and benedic 
 tion. He was the owner of several lots in 
 the town. After the surrender of Cornwal- 
 lis at Yorktown, Washington, impelled by 
 the love and adoration which he had for 
 her, determined that his first visit should 
 be to his mother at Fredericksburg, and he 
 came to her without delay. On that visit 
 he was received with expressions of joy 
 and gratitude by the people of the place, 
 and was presented with an address of wel- 
 came and congratulations by the Town 
 Council. On that occasion a grand ball was 
 
78 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 given in his honor, which he attended, ac 
 companied by Lafayette and other distin 
 guished officers. In those days the ball com 
 menced at early candle-light. His aged 
 mother, whom he escorted, left at nine 
 o clock. After seeing her safely home, he 
 returned and danced the stately minuet 
 with one of the Gregory girls, who was his 
 cousin. 
 
 Washington was a member of Lodge No. 
 4, A. F. and A. M., the records of which 
 lodge show that he was made a Mason No 
 vember, 1752. On that date there was re 
 ceived from George Washington, for his 
 entrance fee, two pounds and five shillings. 
 
 When in Fredericksburg he attended the 
 services of St. George s Episcopal Church. 
 It is related that on one of his visits after 
 he had become great and famous, while at 
 tending the services of this church, it be 
 came overcrowded, that the old frame 
 building gave evidences of being unsafe, 
 and that a panic was only averted by the 
 coolness of Washington himself. 
 
 His only sister, Bettie, who married 
 Fielding Lewis, lived at a place called 
 "Kenmore," then on the outskirts of the 
 town. 
 
 Parson Weems locates Fredericksburg as 
 the place where the great Washington 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 79 
 
 threw a silver dollar across the Rappahan- 
 nock River, and the farm just across the 
 river and immediately opposite Fredericks- 
 burg as the place where the cherry tree 
 and hatchet incident occurred. Although 
 tradition says Washington read this life 
 of himself by Weems, history does not re 
 cord what he said about it. Perhaps he 
 thought if he (Washington) could not tell 
 a lie, the parson could, and did. 
 
 Mercer and Washington were close and 
 intimate friends from the time they first 
 met on the frontier of Pennsylvania until 
 the death of Mercer at Princeton. They 
 often met in old Fredericksburg, at the 
 home of Washington s mother, in the lodge 
 room, and at the old Rising Sun tavern. 
 He who enters the town is constrained to 
 stand reverently, with uncovered head, on 
 ground around which cling holy memories 
 of its most illustrious citizen. 
 
 JOHN PAUL JONES 
 
 John Paul was born July 6, 1747, 
 in the parish of Kirkbean, Scotland. His 
 brother, William Paul, had resided in Fred 
 ericksburg some time prior to 1760, and 
 kept a grocery store in a house now stand- 
 
80 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 ing at the corner of Prussia and Main 
 streets, 
 
 The will of William Paul is recorded in 
 Spottsylvania County, dated March 22, 
 1772, and probated November 16, 1774. In 
 his will he wrote : * It is my will and 
 desire that my lots and houses in 
 this town be sold and converted into money, 
 which I give and bequeath to my beloved 
 sister, Mary Young, and her two oldest 
 children, in the Parish of Kirkbean, in 
 the stewarty of Galloway, North Britain, 
 Scotland." And as this Mary Young- 
 was also sister of John Paul, it cannot 
 possibly be doubted that William and John 
 Paul were brothers. William Paul died 
 in 1773, and is buried in old St. George s 
 churchyard. Over his remains there is still 
 standing a moss-covered stone, with the 
 simple inscription : < William Paul, 1773. 
 
 Seven cities claimed Homer, dead, and 
 three contended for Virgil ; a greater num 
 ber of American cities claim that John Paul 
 had his home within their gates, but the 
 record is against them. Fredericksburg, 
 Virginia, was the one and only home of the 
 great admiral in this country. One of his 
 many biographers, as far back as 1823, lo 
 cates him at Fredericksburg, at the home 
 of his brother William. 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 81 
 
 During the Revolution he wrote to Baron 
 Von Copelan: "America has been the 
 country of my fond election since I was 
 thirteen, when I first saw it." His first 
 visit, therefore, to Fredericksburg was 
 about 1760, and after remaining there for 
 nearly four years he went back to Scot 
 land. In < The National Portrait Gallery, 
 published in 1833, it is stated, "In 1773 we 
 find him (John Paul) in Fredericksburg, 
 arranging the estate of his brother Will 
 iam, who had settled in Fredericksburg." 
 In addition, the traditions and history of 
 the town establish the unimpeachable fact 
 that the illustrious hero of the sea had only 
 one home in America Fredericksburg. It 
 was while living there that he added Jones 
 to his name. The reason that moved him 
 to do this is not known. Speculation and 
 guesses abound, and authorities differ. 
 There must have been some strong impel 
 ling cause, but it is locked in the mystery 
 of a long silence. 
 
 While a resident of that town he received 
 his commission as lieutenant in the Conti 
 nental Navy. The splendid achievements 
 of John Paul Jones are already so well 
 known to the world that I will not attempt 
 in so brief an article as this to narrate them 
 or to give the story of his brilliant career. 
 
82 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 His hand was the first to unfurl the Stars 
 and Stripes on the high seas. As the com 
 mander of the Bon Homme Richard, his 
 story is the pride of every boy in America. 
 He was the only man who ever gave battle 
 to the English on English soil. These 
 things are within the knowledge of all. It 
 is of his life in Fredericksburg that I 
 write, and strive to redeem from the past 
 those years of which so little has been writ 
 ten. 
 
 Mercer and Jones, both Scotchmen, were 
 residents there at the same time, and it can 
 scarcely be drawing on the imagination to 
 picture these men of the Clans of old Scot- 
 hand often meeting in social intercourse 
 to talk of the land of their birth, being 
 drawn together as friends and associates 
 by the strong bond of their mother-country. 
 
 It was from Fredericksburg that Mercer 
 went forth to make his name immortal, 
 fighting the battles of the Colonies on land ; 
 and it was from there that John Paul Jones 
 went to become illustrious by his great vic 
 tories on the sea. The memories of both 
 these great and illustrious men are cher 
 ished by old Fredericksburg, and will ever 
 be cherished by her as long as the story 
 of their lives shall live and Fredericksburg 
 shall last. 
 
John Paul Jones 
 
 OPPOSITE P. 82 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 83 
 
 GENERAL GEORGE WEEDON 
 
 George Weedon was the "mine host" of 
 the Rising Sun tavern at Fredericksburg, 
 whom our English traveler, heretofore 
 mentioned, said was over-zealous in stir 
 ring up sedition in the Colonies. He was 
 also postmaster there. The post-office was 
 kept in the tavern. Weedon was appointed 
 lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of which 
 Mercer was the colonel, was promoted to 
 its colonelcy on August 17, 1776, and was 
 made a brigadier-general on February 24, 
 1777. 
 
 In the Battle of Brandywine, Weedon 
 rendered conspicuous and valuable service 
 while commanding a brigade in Greene s 
 division, which checked the pursuit of the 
 British and saved our army from utter and 
 complete rout. He was a brave and bril 
 liant commanding officer at the Battle of 
 Germantown. In consequence of some dis 
 satisfaction about rank, he left the army 
 at Valley Forge, re-entering it in 1780 ; and 
 in 1781 he was given the command of the 
 Virginia Militia at Gloucester, which posi 
 tion he held at the surrender of Cornwal- 
 lis at Yorktown. 
 
 General Weedon was the first president 
 of the Virginia Branch of the Society of 
 
84 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 Cincinnati, and was a member of Lodge 
 No. 4, A. F. and A. M., of which lodge Mer 
 cer was at one time the Master. After the 
 death of his brother-in-law, General Hugh 
 Mercer, General Weedon occupied "The 
 Sentry Box" on lower Main street; and 
 was appointed by the Court the guardian of 
 Mercer s children. He died in Fredericks- 
 burg in the early part of the last century. 
 
 The General wrote a song, entitled 
 "Christmas Day in 76," which was sung 
 at his festive board at each recurring 
 Christmas. A very interesting account of 
 this was given in a letter dated February 
 8, 1837, from Hugh Mercer, Esq., the son 
 of the General, to the grandfather of Judge 
 Beverly Wellford, of Richmond, and no 
 apology is offered for reproducing this 
 song in this memoir. 
 
 CHRISTMAS DAY IN 76 
 
 On Christmas Day in seventy-six 
 
 Our ragged troops, with bayonets fixed, 
 
 For Trenton marched away. 
 The Delaware ice, the boats below, 
 The light obscured by hail and snow, 
 
 But no signs of dismay. 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 85 
 
 Our object was the Hessian band 
 That dare invade fair Freedom s land, 
 
 At quarter in that place. 
 Great Washington, he led us on, 
 With ensigns streaming with renown, 
 
 Which ne er had known disgrace. 
 
 In silent march we spent the night, 
 Each soldier panting for the fight, 
 
 Though quite benumbed with frost. 
 Greene on the left at six began, 
 The right was with brave Sullivan, 
 
 Who in battle no time lost. 
 
 Their pickets stormed; the alarm was 
 
 spread ; 
 The rebels, risen from the dead, 
 
 Were marching into town. 
 Some scampered here, some scampered 
 
 there, 
 
 And some for action did prepare; 
 But soon their arms laid down. 
 
 Twelve hundred servile miscreants, 
 With all their colors, guns, and tents, 
 
 Were trophies of the day. 
 The frolic o er, the bright canteen 
 In center, front, and rear, was seen, 
 
 Driving fatigue awav. 
 
86 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 And, brothers of the cause, let s sing 
 Our safe deliverance from a king 
 
 Who strove to extend his sway. 
 And life, you know, is but a span; 
 Let s touch the tankard while we can, 
 
 In memory of the day. 
 
 1 1 Written by General George Weedon, of 
 the Eevolutionary Army, who was in the 
 action at Trenton, and had charge of the 
 Hessian prisoners after the victory, which 
 prevented his being at Princeton a few 
 days after and taking part in that glorious 
 victory. 
 
 "My uncle and second father, General 
 Weedon, went through the whole Eevolu 
 tionary W^ar, commanding the American 
 troops on the Gloucester side of York River 
 during the siege of York and the surrender 
 of the British Army at that memorable 
 place. The brilliant victories at Trenton 
 and Princeton were won at the most gloomy 
 period of the great struggle for our inde 
 pendence ; it was the crisis of the war, and 
 turned the scale in favor of our bleeding 
 country. H. MERGER. " 
 
 "My dear Sir: I have had much pleas 
 ure in writing out for you, as you request 
 ed, the patriotic song of Christmas Day in 
 76. For many years after the Revolution 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 87 
 
 my uncle celebrated at The Sentry Box 
 (his residence, and now mine) the capture 
 of the Hessians, by a great festival a jubi 
 lee dinner, if I may so express myself at 
 which the Revolutionary officers then living 
 here and in our vicinity, besides others of 
 our friends, were always present. It was 
 an annual feast, a day or so after Christ 
 mas Day, and the same guests always at 
 tended. 
 
 Your father was, of course, a standing 
 guest. I was young, and a little fellow, and 
 was always drawn up at the table to sing 
 Christmas Day in 76. 
 
 ; Two young servant boys he was bring 
 ing up as waiters in the family were posted 
 at the door as sentinels, in military cos 
 tumes, with wooden muskets on their shoul 
 ders ; one he called Corporal Killbuck and 
 the other Corporal Killdee. It was always 
 a joyous holiday at The Sentry Box. 
 
 "I am, my dear sir, 
 
 "Most truly yours, 
 
 "H. MERCEB." 
 
 JAMES MONEOE 
 
 James Monroe was born in Westmore 
 land County, Virginia, April 28, 1758. He 
 was educated at William and Mary College, 
 
88 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 graduating in 1776. On leaving that col 
 lege he took up law for a profession; but 
 being inspired by the martial fire that was 
 then filling the breasts of the young men of 
 that time, at the commencement of hostili 
 ties he offered his services and sword in 
 the cause of the Colonies. He was made a 
 lieutenant in the regiment which was com 
 manded by Hugh Mercer, and was with 
 Washington and Mercer when they crossed 
 the Delaware. On December 26, 1776, he 
 was wounded in the shoulder at Trenton, 
 while leading the van of the army. On re 
 covering from his wound he was appointed 
 as an aide-de-camp on the staff of Lord 
 Sterling, and was in the battles of Brandy- 
 wine, Germantown and Monmouth. 
 
 After the war he again took up his resi 
 dence in Fredericksburg. Under the laws 
 then in force, in order to vote and hold of 
 fice it was necessary to own property ; and 
 to meet that qualification, an uncle of Mon 
 roe, who was also a resident of Fredericks- 
 burg, made him a gift of a town lot, and 
 thus he was enabled to exercise the great 
 and inalienable right of an American citi 
 zen. 
 
 Monroe was at that time a member of 
 the Fredericksburg Town Council, and a 
 vestryman of St. George s Episcopal 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 89 
 
 Church. When only twenty-four years of 
 age he was sent to Congress for the district 
 of which Fredericksburg constituted a part. 
 So it was brought about that Monroe, in the 
 Town Council of Fredericksburg, com 
 menced a career which culminated in his 
 election to the Presidency. 
 
 Monroe was a continuous office-holder, 
 having been a town councilman, a member 
 of the Virginia Legislature, Governor of 
 that State, member of Congress, minister 
 to two foreign courts, senator, cabinet offi 
 cer and President. And, what is to his 
 everlasting honor and credit, he executed 
 the trusts of these various and varied sta 
 tions with faithfulness and efficiency. He 
 did his duty, and did it well, and has en 
 shrined his name in America s history as 
 a patriotic citizen, and as a conscientious, 
 conservative and able officer. 
 
 The result of his life in dollars and cents 
 was that his poverty was to him a badge 
 of honor. 
 
 Monroe was much younger than Mercer, 
 but he doubtless was found on the outskirts 
 of the assembled and much excited patriots 
 around the old open fireplace at the Eising 
 Sun tavern, which tradition locates as a 
 meeting place of these worthies "in ye old 
 en time" for the discussion of the removal 
 
90 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 of the powder at Williamsburg by Dun- 
 more, and other acts of England s intol 
 erable tyranny, as well as to formulate 
 methods and means to stop and stay the 
 onward march of Great Britain s aggres 
 sions against the rights and liberties of the 
 Colonies. And when the cry "To arms!" 
 rang out over the land, young Monroe 
 showed his faith by his works when he en 
 listed in the regiment of which his friend, 
 Mercer, was colonel. 
 
 He was, however, destined to play a 
 greater and more prominent part in the 
 drama of life than Mercer. From a lieu 
 tenant he became the Commander-in-Chief 
 of the army ; from a member of the council 
 of the town of Fredericksburg he became 
 the Chief Executive of the Eepublic. Who 
 knows how potential was the influence of 
 Mercer on the life of Monroe, and how 
 much, and how far, that influence shaped 
 and molded his character, and thus 
 brought about the illustrious career of 
 Monroe? We only know that they were 
 true and loyal friends. 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 91 
 
 MARY, THE MOTHER OF 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 After the death of her husband, Augus 
 tine Washington, "Madam Washington, 7 
 as she was called by her neighbors and 
 friends, moved to Fredericksburg, and 
 lived and died in the house now standing 
 on the corner of Charles and Lewis streets. 
 
 The world pays its tribute to the memory 
 of the mother of the "Father of His Coun 
 try. President Andrew Jackson said that 
 "the character of Washington was aided 
 and strengthened, if not formed, by the care 
 and precepts of his mother, who was re 
 markable for the vigor of her intellect and 
 the firmness of her resolution. 
 
 Mrs. Washington was left in early life a 
 widow, with the burden of a young and 
 large family, and to the task of guarding 
 and governing them she unselfishly devoted 
 herself. She was a woman of much busi 
 ness ability, for her farm she managed with 
 great skill and with profitable results. Tra 
 dition says she was rather inaccessible and 
 somewhat exclusive, for she was in no sense 
 a society woman. Mrs. Washington was in 
 tensely religious, a consistent member of 
 St. George s Episcopal Church, and very 
 charitable to the poor. Her hospitable home 
 
92 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 was always open to her friends, among 
 whom was Hugh Mercer, who was a fre 
 quent visitor there. 
 
 When Washington found himself the lau 
 rel-crowned hero of the new Eepublic, he 
 came first to pay his homage and filial de 
 votion to his revered mother. On that visit 
 he was accompanied by Lafayette and a 
 number of other distinguished military 
 men. She received him as a devoted moth 
 er should receive a dutiful son. In that 
 reception Washington the hero, to her, had 
 no part. She was proud of her great son, 
 proud because of his greatness, but prouder 
 still, no doubt, as she remembered her part 
 in making that son great. 
 
 He escorted her to the Peace Ball before 
 mentioned. At nine o clock she said it was 
 time for old people to go home, and she 
 went. 
 
 Washington sent a special messenger to 
 his mother, it is said, to give her the glad 
 tidings of the surrender of Cornwallis. An 
 old gentleman once told the writer of this 
 brief memoir that when that messenger 
 dashed up the deserted streets of Freder- 
 icksburg a Mr. Keiger, then a very young 
 but precocious boy, was urged by some 
 older ones standing on the street corner to 
 go up to Madam Washington and get the 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 93 
 
 news. Keiger went ; Mrs. Washington was 
 in her garden ; he watched and waited until 
 she had opened the letter with a pair of 
 scissors attached to her waist by a cord, 
 then turning, she said, "My young man, 
 what is it you want?" He told her. She 
 said, "Tell the gossips that George has 
 sent me word that Lord Cornwallis has sur 
 rendered at Yorktown." 
 
 Lafayette, on his visit, called on the 
 mother of his illustrious chief; he wrote 
 home to France quite a lengthy account of 
 that visit. Mrs. Washington met him at 
 the door of her residence; he introduced 
 himself. Walk right in, said the Madam. 
 "I am glad to see you, for George has told 
 me all about you." He was ushered into 
 the parlor, and refreshed the inner man 
 with her home-made ginger cake and her 
 home-brewed rum punch ; and he went from 
 that simple country home declaring that he 
 was glad to say he had seen in her a splen 
 did old Virginia matron. 
 
 In appearance, Mrs. Washington was of 
 medium height, and rather stout in her old 
 age, but carried herself with great dignity. 
 For a number of years she suffered from 
 a very painful disease. On August 25, 1789, 
 she died. In her last illness she was at 
 tended by Doctors Mortimer and Hall. The 
 
94 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 funeral ceremonies were held in St. 
 George s Episcopal Church, August 28, 
 1789. On the day of the funeral all busi 
 ness was suspended in the town ; the church 
 bells tolled. The whole population wended 
 its way solemnly and reverently to pay its 
 last sad tribute to the memory of a friend 
 and neighbor. She was buried on the Ken- 
 more farm, then owned and occupied by 
 her daughter, Mrs. Fielding Lewis, in a 
 spot she herself had selected for that 
 purpose, near what are now known as 
 the Oratory Rocks, where she frequently 
 sat with her grandchildren and read her 
 Bible. 
 
 When the sad tidings of her death was 
 conveyed to Congress, resolutions of sym 
 pathy for President Washington, and a 
 tribute to her memory, were passed. This 
 deeply touched Washington, who respond 
 ed in a note of thanks, adding : " I attribute 
 all of my success in life to the moral, intel 
 lectual and physical education which I re 
 ceived from my mother/ No grander 
 tribute was ever paid by a great man to 
 his mother than that, and the world, well 
 knowing how much was accomplished by 
 him, can readily pay its homage to the 
 memory of this great and good woman, 
 for 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 95 
 
 "Methinks we see thee as in olden time, 
 Simple in garb, majestic and serene, 
 Unmoved by pomp and circumstance, 
 Inflexible, and with a Spartan zeal 
 Expressing vice, and making folly 
 grave. 
 
 In 1833 the erection of a monument over 
 the grave of this most illustrious of Ameri 
 can women was commenced, but never com 
 pleted. Congress was importuned, but 
 failed to act, although it had promised in 
 1789, by solemn resolution, to build a mon 
 ument to mark the spot where sleeps the 
 mother of Washington. 
 
 On October 21, 1889, the following appeal 
 was made by the wife of this writer: 
 
 "AN APPEAL IN BEHALF OF THE MARY 
 WASHINGTON MONUMENT 
 
 "Amid great pomp and ceremony the 
 corner-stone of the monument to the mem 
 ory of Mary Washington, the mother of 
 The Father of this Bepublic, was laid in 
 1833. The erection of the monument over 
 the grave of this most illustrious of Ameri 
 can women was voluntarily undertaken by 
 a philanthropic and patriotic citizen, Silas 
 
96 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 Burrows, of New York. Mr. Burrows died 
 before its completion. It is now in an un 
 finished and dilapidated condition. 
 
 * Congress has been again and again ap 
 pealed to and importuned. Favorable leg 
 islation has been promised, but this incom 
 plete monument crumbles and decays. Shall 
 the memory of the mother of the great 
 Washington longer be neglected? In every 
 State of this Union monuments mark with 
 emphasis the veneration with which George 
 Washington is held by a grateful republic, 
 and at the Capitol of the nation there is 
 one that towers above all the rest; but no 
 where is there recognition made of the 
 mother. Her very grave at this place is 
 marked only by an unsightly pile of marble. 
 Shall this neglect continue? 
 
 "Mrs. Washington was an uncommon 
 woman. It is recorded of her that she 
 was of strong will, splendid judgment, un 
 tiring energy, and without pretension, and 
 from these elements she molded her great 
 son, taught him to become great, equipped 
 him with attributes essential to great 
 ness. 
 
 "She lived, during the Eevolutionary 
 War, in Fredericksburg ; died, and was bur 
 ied here at the spot she herself had selected 
 for that purpose. Shall the grave of Mary 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 97 
 
 Washington be allowed to remain longer 
 in a condition which is the reminder of the 
 forgetfulness, rather than the gratitude, of 
 our people? Remember that the grave of 
 Washington himself is held as a very Mecca 
 to which all liberty-loving people can make 
 their pilgrimage the work of the faithful 
 and devoted women of this land. And it is 
 proposed that an organization shall at once 
 be formed, having for its object the erec 
 tion of a monument over the grave of 
 George Washington s mother at this 
 place. 
 
 "Will the women of this Eepublic 
 respond to this appeal? Are they 
 not willing to undertake this patriotic 
 work? 
 
 "To the end that steps may be immedi 
 ately taken, it is intended to obtain a 
 charter of incorporation of the Mary Wash 
 ington Memorial Association, to have a 
 president, one vice-president in each State, 
 and other usual and necessary officers, all 
 women. It is also suggested that the ladies 
 of America, on February 22, 1890, shall in 
 every State make some organized effort to 
 raise the necessary funds. The writer of 
 this requests that the papers give circu 
 lation to this appeal, and she will be glad 
 to hear from any ladies who desire to 
 
98 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 take an active interest in this patriotic 
 purpose. 
 
 "MRS. JOHN T. GOOLEICK. 
 "Fredericksburg, Va., Oct. 15, 1889." 
 
 In response, largely to that appeal, or in 
 part at least as a result of it, the National 
 Mary Washington Monument Association 
 was organized, composed of patriotic 
 women of America, and a stately, imposing 
 monument stands sentinel over the grave 
 of Mrs. Washington. On one side of it is 
 inscribed, "Erected by Her Country 
 women. " Just here it will not be irrele 
 vant to record an incident. A verdant 
 woman visited this monument and read 
 * Erected by Her Countrywomen. 9 " Thank 
 the Lawd!" she said, "that no city wimen 
 had nothing to do with this monument. " On 
 the other side of this splendid granite shaft 
 is inscribed in raised letters this epitaph : 
 
 "Mary, the Mother of Washington." 
 LODGE NO. 4, A. F. AND A. M. " 
 
 Past Master Bro. S. J. Quinn, of Fred 
 ericksburg, has compiled a very interesting 
 history of this Lodge. From it we find 
 that it was organized September 1, 1752. It 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 99 
 
 has had among its membership many good 
 men and true, many who became illustrious 
 besides George Washington, Hugh Mercer 
 and George Weedon, of whose membership 
 in that Lodge we have heretofore made 
 mention. Its records are quaint and curi 
 ous, and as an illustration of this, we ex 
 tract from its proceedings as follows : 
 
 "On December 19, 1755, it was resolved 
 by unanimous consent of the Lodge, that 
 the treasurer shall, at his discretion, pur 
 chase on account of this Lodge six lottery 
 tickets, and the numbers of them to be re 
 turned to the Lodge and made a minute 
 of. And tradition says that these tickets 
 were signed by the illustrious brother, 
 George Washington, who was president of 
 the company. 
 
 On April 15, 1769, "on motion of Broth 
 er Alexander Woodron, it was resolved, 
 that the Stewarts of this Lodge, for the 
 time being, shall for the future provide 
 liquors, candies, and all other necessaries 
 for the use of the Lodge. About this time 
 two demijohns, one called "Jachen," full 
 of Jamaica rum, and the other called 
 "Boaz," full of Holland gin, with an old- 
 fashioned loaf of sugar, were kept in the 
 ante-room for the refreshment of the breth 
 ren ; and tradition hath it, that some of the 
 
100 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 brothers were content to tarry in the ante 
 room and never got any farther. 
 
 "On December 27, 1756, being the anni 
 versary of our Patron Saint John, the 
 Lodge assembled, attended by several vis 
 iting brothers, and went in procession to 
 the church, where we heard a most excel 
 lent sermon preached by our worthy Broth 
 er James Marye, after which we returned 
 in procession to the Lodge, where our wor 
 thy Master returned the thanks of the 
 Lodge to our worthy Brother James Marye 
 for so good a sermon. 
 
 "The Lodge being closed, the evening 
 was spent very agreeably with a Ball. 
 
 On the second Sunday in December, 1799, 
 after the death of General Washington, 
 Lodge No. 4 met in a Lodge of sorrow. The 
 Grand Master of Virginia, who was a mem 
 ber of that Lodge and citizen of Fredericks- 
 burg, Benjamin Day, made an address, 
 from which we quote in part : 
 
 "We are now, brethren, assembled to 
 pay the last sad tribute of affection and re 
 spect to the eminent virtues and exemplary 
 conduct that adorned the character of our 
 worthy deceased brother, George Wash 
 ington. He was early initiated in this ven 
 erable Lodge, in the mysteries of our an 
 cient and honorable profession, and having 
 
General George Washington as a Mason and Member of 
 Lodge No. 4, A. F. and A. M., Fredericksburg, Virginia 
 
 OPPOSITE P. 100 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 101 
 
 held it in the highest and most just venera 
 tion, the fraternal attention we now show 
 to his memory is the more incumbent 
 upon us." 
 
 After these memorial exercises in the 
 Lodge room, the Lodge went in procession 
 to St. George s Episcopal Church, where 
 religious services were held. 
 
 On Sunday, November 28, 1824, General 
 Lafayette, with his son, George Washing 
 ton Lafayette, and Colonel La Vassem, vis 
 ited that Lodge. Lafayette on this occasion 
 was made an Honorary Member, and in re 
 sponse to an address of welcome the Mar 
 quis said: 
 
 "The pleasure I ever feel in our frater 
 nal meetings cannot but be enhanced by the 
 consideration, that in this city the first les 
 sons of childhood, and in this Lodge the 
 first lessons of Masonry, were conferred 
 upon the man who was first in all our 
 hearts. " * * * 
 
 This old Lodge has many valuable relics 
 and mementos of the old times; among 
 them, a portrait of Washington painted 
 from life by Sully, and the Holy Bible upon 
 which Washington, Mercer and Weedon 
 were obligated as Masons. 
 
 This historic Lodge, the Alma Mater in 
 Masonry of distinguished and illustrious 
 
102 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 men, feels proud of its record, as well as 
 of its roll of honor ; for it has always been 
 faithful and true to the sacred principles 
 and tenets of the order, ever practicing 
 and proclaiming as its holy mission the ele 
 vation and ennoblement of mankind. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 GENEALOGICAL NOTES ON THE DESCENDANTS 
 
 OP 
 
 EEV. JOHN MERCER OF KINNELLAN 
 1650-1676. 
 
 John Mercer 1 was minister of Kinnel- 
 lan in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, from 1650 
 to 1676, when he resigned (in June) be 
 cause of infirmity. He died August 7, 1677. 
 John Mercer of Kinnellan married Lilias 
 Row. She was the great-granddaughter of 
 John Row, the Reformer. (See The Scot 
 tish Nation by William Anderson, Vol. Ill, 
 p. 380.) 
 
 The children of John Mercer (1) and 
 Lilias Row, his wife, were: 
 
 1. John Mercer 2. Baptized January 
 8, 1654, at Old Machar. Died young. 
 
 2. Agnes 2 (or Annas). Baptized Janu 
 ary 20, 1656. Polled, 1696, at Todlay, Par 
 ish of Alva. 
 
 103 
 
104 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 3. Thomas Mercer 2. Baptized January 
 20, 1658. Polled, 1696. He was married 
 twice. His first wife was Anna Eaite. The 
 marriage contract is dated July 13, 1681. 
 His second wife was Isabel. 
 
 The children of THOMAS MEKCEK 2 (5) 
 were: 
 
 1. Lilias Mercer 3. Polled 1696. 
 
 2. John Mercer 3. Polled 1696. Mar 
 ried Isabel Martin. 
 
 3. Margaret Mercer 3. Polled 1696. 
 
 4. Janet Mercer 3. Polled 1696. Mar 
 ried June 1, 1704, at Fyvie, to Robert Eait 
 of Micklefalla. 
 
 5. Thomas Mercer 3. Baptized April 
 25, 1693. Polled 1696. 
 
 6. Christian Mercer 3. Baptized June 
 4, 1695. Polled 1696. 
 
 7. William Mercer 3. Baptized March 
 25, 1696. Married Anne, daughter of Sir 
 Eobert Munro of Foulis. 
 
 The children of John Mercer 3 (9) and 
 Isabel Martin, his wife, were : 
 
 1. Elizabeth Mercer 4. Baptized De 
 cember 10, 1710. Married Rev. James Wil 
 son, minister of Glowerie, May 27, 1735. 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 105 
 
 2. John Mercer 4. Baptized March 27, 
 1717. 
 
 3. Thomas Mercer 4. Baptized Octo 
 ber 17, 1721. 
 
 4. Isabel Mercer 4. Baptized June 15, 
 1723. 
 
 5. Agnes Mercer 4. Baptized May 20, 
 1725. 
 
 The children of WILLIAM MERGER 3 (14) 
 and ANNE MUNRO 3 (15), his wife, were: 
 
 1. Margaret Mercer 4. Baptized June 
 8, 1724. 
 
 2. Hugh Mercer 4. Baptized January, 
 1726. Emigrated to America and married 
 Isabella Gordon of Virginia. Wounded at 
 Princeton, January 3, 1777, where he died 
 on January 12th of the same year. 
 
 3. Isabel Mercer 4. Baptized October 
 30, 1735. Married George Mercer of Marl 
 boro. 
 
 The children of GEN. HUGH MERCER 4 
 (23) and ISABELLA GORDON (24), his wife, 
 were: 
 
 1. Anna Gordon Mercer 5. Married 
 Eobert Patton of Fredericksburg, Va. In 
 a letter from Mrs. Dunbar, who was Eliza- 
 
106 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 beth Gregory Thornton, to her sister, Mrs. 
 Frances Thornton of Fall Hill, nee Miss 
 Innes, daughter of Judge Innes of Ken 
 tucky, she wrote of this marriage : * * But if 
 I go on so fast I will not have time to tell 
 you about Miss Ann Mercer s wedding. 
 Well, Polly and myself were drawn forth in 
 our best airs on the occasion, last Thursday 
 was a week, and saw Miss M. give her hand 
 to the delighted Mr. Patton. You may be 
 sure she looked infinitely lovely; her dress 
 was white satin and muslin; her necklace, 
 earrings and bracelets were very bril 
 liant/ 
 
 2. John Mercer 5. Born 1772. Died 
 September 30, 1817. 
 
 3. William Mercer 5. Died unmarried. 
 He was deaf and dumb. 
 
 4. George Weedon Mercer 5. Died un 
 married. 
 
 5. Hugh Tenant Weedon Mercer 5. He 
 was a child in arms at his father s death. 
 He was educated at the expense of the na 
 tion by act of Congress of 1793. He mar 
 ried Louisa Griffin 5, daughter of Judge 
 Cyrus Griffin by Lady Christina Stuart. 
 
 Col. Hugh Mercer 5 (31) was born in 
 Fredericksburg, August 4, 1776, died at 
 the " Sentry Box," Fredericksburg, De 
 cember 1, 1853. His wife, Louisa Griffin 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 107 
 
 Mercer 5 (32), died December 28, 1859, 
 aged 80 years. These dates are taken from 
 the tombs in the Masonic Cemetery in Fred- 
 ericksburg. 
 
 THE DESCENDANTS OF EOBEKT PATTON AND 
 ANNE GORDON MERCER 
 
 EGBERT PATTON 5 (27) was a Scotchman. 
 He emigrated to Virginia some time before 
 the Revolutionary War, settled in Fred- 
 ericksburg, Va., and there married ANNE 
 GORDON MERCER 5 (26), only daughter of 
 GEN. HUGH MERCER 4 (23), about 1793, but 
 prior to November 25th of that year vide 
 will of General Weedon. 
 
 The children of Eobert Patton and Anne 
 Gordon Mercer 5 (26), his wife, were: 
 
 1. Robert Patton 6, a distinguished law 
 yer of Fredericksburg, Va. President of 
 Farmers Bank. He died, unmarried, at 
 about the age of thirty-five, in 1830, in 
 Spottsylvania County, Va. 
 
 2. Hugh Mercer Patton 6. Died un 
 married in 1846. 
 
 3. John Mercer Patton 6. Born August 
 10, 1797. Died October 29, 1858. He was 
 for many years the acknowledged leader of 
 the Richmond Bar, a Representative in 
 Congress from Virginia, and for a short 
 
108 The life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 time Governor of the State of Virginia. He 
 married on January 8, 1824, Margaret 
 French Williams 6, by whom he had twelve 
 children. 
 
 4. Eleanor Anne Patton 6. Born , 
 
 1805. Died June 24, 1890. She married on 
 March 24, 1825, John James Chew 6. Born 
 
 -, 1806. He was Clerk of Courts of 
 Fredericksburg. Died January 23, 1870, 
 at Fredericksburg, Va., and had six 
 children. 
 
 5. William Fairlie Patton 6. Born 
 
 . Died . He married Harriet 
 
 Shepherd Buck 6 and had five children by 
 her. 
 
 6. Margaretta L. Patton 6. Born , 
 
 1810. Died July 2, 1852. She married, on 
 April 18, 1835, John Minor Herndon 6. 
 Born May 14, 1808. Died September 19, 
 1871, and had three daughters. 
 
 Robert Patton 5 (27). Died in 1827 or 
 1828. 
 
 See report of Commissioner Thomas D. 
 Ranson in suit of Patton s Exec, against 
 Patton s creditors in Circuit Court of Au 
 gusta County, Va., of 1871. 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 109 
 
 THE DESCENDANTS OF EGBERT PATTON AND 
 
 ANNE GORDON MERCER 
 The children of the HONOURABLE JOHN 
 MERCER PATTON 6 (35) and MARGARET 
 FRENCH WILLIAMS 6 (36), his wife, were: 
 
 1. Eobert Patton 7. Born October 10, 
 1824. Died, unmarried, June 13, 1876. 
 
 2. John Mercer Patton 7. Born May 9, 
 1826. He married first on November 11, 
 1858, Sallie Lindsay Taylor 7, daughter of 
 Alex. Taylor of Orange, Va. She died on 
 December 28, 1872. He married, second, 
 Lucy Agnes Crump, born April 29, 1846, 
 by whom he had two children, both girls. 
 Died on October 9, 1878. 
 
 3. Isaac Williams Patton 7. Born Feb 
 ruary 4, 1828. Died February , 1890. 
 He married Fanny Elizabeth Merritt 7 on 
 February 29, 1855. He held many promi 
 nent positions in New Orleans. There were 
 three sons by this marriage. 
 
 4. Lucy Anne Patton 7. Born Novem 
 ber 7, 1829. Died October 31, 1831. 
 
 5. Hugh Philip Patton 7. Born July 7, 
 1831. Died April 2, 1832. 
 
 6. George Smith Patton 7. Born June 
 26, 1833. Died September , 1864. He 
 settled as a lawyer in West Virginia, volun 
 teered in the late war between the States, 
 became a Colonel and was killed at the 
 
110 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 battle of Winchester, near the close of the 
 war. He married Susan Glassell 7, Novem 
 ber 8, 1855, and had by her four children. 
 Mrs. Patton afterwards was married to 
 Col. George Hugh Smith of Los Angeles, 
 Cal. He was the son of the Eev. George 
 Archibald Smith of Alexandria, who mar 
 ried Ophelia Williams, sister of Margaret 
 French Williams. There were two chil 
 dren by this second marriage : a girl, Anne 
 Patton Smith, who married Hancock Ban 
 ning of Los Angeles ; and a boy, who died, 
 full of promise, quite young. 
 
 7. Waller Tazewell Patton 7. Born 
 July 15, 1835. Died July 21, 1863. He was 
 Colonel in the Southern Army and Senator 
 in the Virginia Legislature. He was mor 
 tally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, 
 July 3, 1863, and died a few days later, un 
 married. 
 
 8. Mary Mercer Patton 7. Born April 
 14, 1837. Died August 29, 1841. 
 
 9. Eliza Williams Patton 7. Born 
 February 22, 1839. Married on Novem 
 ber 15, 1860, to John Gilmer 6, born 
 January 13, 1826, of Chatham, Va. He 
 died March 12, 1894. They had several 
 children. 
 
 10. Hugh Mercer Patton 7. Born April 
 6, 1841. Married Fannie Bull 7, of Orange, 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 111 
 
 Va., on October 19, 1870. They had several 
 children. 
 
 11. James French Patton 7. Born 
 September 19, 1843. Died while Judge of 
 the Supreme Court of West Virginia, at 
 Wheeling, on March 30, 1882. He married 
 on April 6, 1869, Melinda Caperton 7, 
 daughter of Senator Caperton of Union, 
 Monroe County, Va., and had by her two 
 children. 
 
 12. William Macfarland Patton 7. Born 
 August 22, 1845. Died May 19, 1905. He 
 studied engineering, and while Professor 
 of Civil and Military Engineering at the 
 Virginia Military Institute, he married 
 Miss Annie Jordon on January 7, 1875, by 
 whom he had several children, all girls. 
 She afterwards married Judge Bingham of 
 the Supreme Court of District of Columbia. 
 
 The children of Col. Jno. Mercer Patton 
 7 (44) and Sally Lindsay Taylor 7 (45), his 
 first wife, were : 
 
 1. Jno. Mercer Patton, Junior, 8. Born 
 August 30, 1859. He married on June 28, 
 1890, Julia Mattern. They had two chil 
 dren: 
 
 a. Catherine 8. Born April, 1891. 
 
 b. Jno. Mercer Patton (9), Jr. Born 
 April, 1892. 
 
112 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 2. Alexander Taylor Pattern 8. Born 
 April 19, 1861. He married Miss Beatrice 
 Chandler of San Francisco in June, 1901. 
 Died November, 1904. No issue. 
 
 3. Sadie Lindsay Patton 8. Born Feb 
 ruary 7, 1863. She married on September 
 19, 1888, Capt. Arthur Jno. Hutchinson 8 
 (E. A.), who was born August 31, 1846. 
 Their children are: 
 
 a. Mary Lindsay Hutchinson 9. Born 
 August 4, 1890. 
 
 b. William Nelson Lindsay Hutchinson 
 9. Born December 7, 1892. 
 
 c. Arthur John Lindsay Hutchinson 9. 
 Born August 18, 1896. 
 
 4. George Tazewell Patton 8. Born 
 December 25, 1864. He was married on 
 December 10, 1890, to Virginia (Jennie) 
 King Pemberton 8. Born February 1, 
 1864. They have children: 
 
 a. Mary Pemberton Patton (9). Born 
 December 3, 1893. 
 
 b. William Eives Patton (9). Born May 
 5, 1898. 
 
 c. George Tazewell Patton (9). Born 
 January 31, 1902. 
 
 5. James Lindsay Patton 8. Born No 
 vember 20, 1866. Married June 28, 1890, 
 to Fanny Kean Leake 8, daughter of Judge 
 W. J. Leake of Ashland, Va., and later of 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 113 
 
 Kichmond, Va. He was a minister of the 
 Episcopal Church and Missionary to 
 Japan. Their children are: 
 
 1. John Mercer Patton (9), Jr. Born 
 June 7, 1891. Died July 1, 1892. 
 
 2. Sadie Patton 9. Born July 5, 1893. 
 
 3. Martha Callis Patton 9. Born Octo 
 ber 5, 1896. 
 
 4. James Lindsay Patton 9. Born De 
 cember 13, 1900. 
 
 5. William Josiah Leake Patton 9. Born 
 July 28, 1902. 
 
 6. Fanny Leake Patton 9. Born March 
 10, 1905. 
 
 7. Robert Williams Patton 8. Born 
 February 18, 1869. Married on January 1, 
 1900, Janie Slaughter Stringfellow. Born 
 August 15, 1876, daughter of Rev. Frank 
 Stringfellow of Raccoon Ford, Va., and 
 Emma Francis Green, born 1843, of Alex 
 andria, Va. Issue: 
 
 Alice Lee Patton 9. Bom July 25, 1901, 
 near the Meadows in Albernmrle County, 
 Va. 
 
 8. William Rives Patton 8. Born April 
 3,1871. Died May 29, 1897. Unmarried. 
 
 9. Alfred Slaughter Patton 8. Born 
 October, 1872. Died July 28, 1873. 
 
114 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 THE DESCENDANTS OF ANNE GOKDON MERCER 
 
 AND ROBERT PATTON. 
 The children of Col. Jno. M. Patton (44) 
 and Lucy Agnes Crump, his second wife, 
 are: 
 
 9. Susan French Patton 8. Born Sep 
 tember 11, 1884. 
 
 10. Agnes Parke Patton 8. Born Feb 
 ruary 19, 1887. 
 
 The children of Col. Isaac Williams Pat- 
 ton 7 (46) and Fanny E. Merritt 7 (47) 
 were: 
 
 1. William Thomas Patton. Born 
 March 18, 1856. Died July 4, 1896. 
 
 2. Mary Mercer Patton. Born March 9, 
 1861. Died August , 1864. 
 
 3. George Tazewell Patton. Born No 
 vember 14, 1864. 
 
 4. Mercer Williams Patton. Born Oc 
 tober 26, 1867. Married. 
 
 THE DESCENDANTS OP EGBERT PATTON AND 
 ANNE GORDON MERCER 
 
 The children of George Smith Patton 7 
 (50) and his wife, Susan Thornton Glassell 
 7 (51), were: 
 
 George Smith Patton. He married Euth 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 115 
 
 Wilson of California. They have two chil 
 dren. 
 
 2. Ellen Thornton Patton. She mar 
 ried Tom Brown, Esq., of Los Angeles, Cal. 
 He died about 1895. They have three chil 
 dren. 
 
 3. Andrew Glassell Patton. 
 
 4. Susan Glassell Patton. Married 1904. 
 
 THE DESCENDANTS OF ROBERT PATTON AND 
 
 His WIFE, ANNE GORDON MERCER 
 The children of Eliza Williams Patton 
 7 (54) and John Gilmer 7 (55), her hus 
 band, were: 
 
 1. John Patton Gilmer. Born Septem 
 ber 9, 1861. Married on October 16, 1895, 
 to Lucy Dabney Walker. Born October 10, 
 1872. They have one child. 
 
 2. William Wirt Gilmer. Born May 21, 
 1863. Unmarried. 
 
 3. Tazewell Gilmer. Born March 30, 
 1865. 
 
 4. Mary Eidgeway Gilmer. Born Au 
 gust 9, 1866. 
 
 5. Francis Walker Gilmer. Born May 
 23, 1868. Died November 7, 1879. 
 
 6. Mercer Williams Gilmer. Born De 
 cember 30, 1869. Unmarried. 
 
 7. James Carrington Gilmer. Born De 
 cember 7, 1871. 
 
116 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 8. Lindsay Gilmer. Born July 7, 1873. 
 
 9. Isabel Breckinridge Gilmer. Born 
 December 26, 1879. 
 
 THE DESCENDANTS OF ROBERT PATTON AND 
 
 ANNE GOKDON MERCER 
 The children of Hugh Mercer Patton 7 
 (56) and Frances Dade Bull 7 (57) were : 
 
 1. Marguerita French Patton 8. Born 
 September 22, 1871. She married on June 
 
 9, 1895, George Harmer Gilmer 8, born 
 December 19, 1864, son of Judge George 
 Henry Gilmer of Chatham, Va. They live 
 in Lynchburg, Va. Issue : 
 
 a. Helen Mercer Gilmer 9. Born Janu 
 ary 8, 1896. 
 
 b. Rita Carrington Gilmer. Born July 
 
 10, 1899. 
 
 2. Sally Lindsay Patton. Born Sep 
 tember 15, 1872. Died - -. 
 
 3. Frances Payton Patton. Born May 
 4, 1876. 
 
 4. John Mercer Patton. Born January 
 
 11, 1878. 
 
 5. Marie Louise Patton. Died in in 
 fancy. 
 
 6. Mabel Blair Patton. Born June 27, 
 188].. 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 117 
 
 7. Helen Lee Patton. Born October , 
 1882. 
 
 8. Marcus Bade Patton. Died in in 
 fancy. 
 
 9. Clayton Lorenzo Patton. Born Au 
 gust 11, 1892. Died in infancy. 
 
 THE DESCENDANTS OF EGBERT PATTON AND 
 
 ANNE GORDON MERCER 
 James French Patton 7 (58). Married 
 Melinda Caperton (59) and had issue: 
 
 1. Harriet Echols Patton. Born Au 
 gust 25, 1870. Married 1903. 
 
 2. Allen Gilmer Patton. Born Decem 
 ber 1, 1871. Married 1903. 
 
 William Macfarland Patton 7 (66). 
 Married Annie Jordon 7 (61) and had 
 issue : 
 
 1. Sallie Taylor Patton. Born April 
 26, 1877. Married on August 28, 1905, at 
 Blacksburg, Va., Prof. - . 
 
 2. Margaret French Patton. Born Au 
 gust 13, 1878. 
 
 3. Virginia Mercer Patton. Born Sep 
 tember 21, 1880. 
 
 4. Nannie Maria Patton. Born July 6, 
 1882. 
 
118 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 5. Agnes Lee Patton. Born September 
 30, 1884. 
 
 6. Lucy Williams Patton. Born De 
 cember 20, 1886. 
 
 7. Elizabeth Jordan Patton. Born 
 January 1, 1876. Died July 13, 1876. 
 
 THE DESCENDANTS OF EGBERT PATTON AND 
 ANNE GORDON MERCER 
 
 The Chew Family 
 
 Eleanor Anne Patton 6 (37). Married 
 John James Chew 6 (38) of Fredericks- 
 burg, Va., who was for many years a Clerk 
 of the Courts of Fredericksburg, and had 
 issue as follows : 
 
 1. Anne Mercer Chew 7. Born Febru 
 ary 26, 1826. Died May 13, 1896. She mar 
 ried, on October 14, 1851, Frank Thornton 
 Forbes. Born January 11, 1826, and died 
 December, 1905, and had issue as follows : 
 
 The Forbes Family 
 
 a. John James Forbes 8. Born Septem 
 ber , 1852. Died May , 1855. 
 
 b. Sallie Innes Forbes 8. Born August 
 17, 1854. 
 
The life of General Hugh Mercer 119 
 
 c. James Fitzgerald Forbes 8. Born 
 July 14, 1856. 
 
 d. Eliza French Forbes 8. Born Sep 
 tember 19, 1858. 
 
 e. Ellen Patton Forbes 8. Born Novem 
 ber 25, 1860. Married Dr. William Wayne 
 
 Owens of Savannah, Ga., on . Issue: 
 
 William Duncan Owens 9. Born June 22, 
 1894. 
 
 /. Anne Mercer Forbes 8. Born Febru 
 ary 4, 1864. 
 
 The Chew Family. 
 
 Robert Stanard Chew, born October 3, 
 1828. Died August 17, 1886. Unmarried. 
 Succeeded his father as Clerk of the Courts 
 of Fredericksburg, graduated in n*edieine, 
 and was Colonel of the 30th Virginia Regi 
 ment, C. S. A. 
 
 3. Ellen Patton Chew. Born Septem 
 ber 17, 1837. Died May 22, 1896. Unmar 
 ried. 
 
 4. Hugh Patton Chew 7. Born Septem 
 ber . Died January 30, 1873. He mar 
 ried Bessie Bainbridge 7 on , and had 
 
 three children: 
 
 a. Eleanor Patton Chew 8. Born No 
 vember 13, 1868. 
 
 b. John James Chew 8. Born January 
 22, 1871. 
 
120 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 c. Bessie Mason Bainbridge Chew 8. 
 Born August , 1873. Died . 
 
 Mrs. Bessie Bainbridge Chew was mar 
 ried on , 18 , to William M. Grafton, 
 
 and now resides (May, 1899) at Sewickley, 
 near Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 The Crutchfield Family 
 
 5. Elizabeth French Chew 7. Born 
 June 13, 1843. 
 
 She married, on January 13, 1865, Edgar 
 Crutchfield (born March 1, 1840) of Fred- 
 ericksburg, Va., and had issue: 
 
 a. Eleanor Patton Crutchfield 8. Born 
 May 6, 1866. 
 
 She married, on November, , 1892, 
 Clement Bead Carrington 8, born July 25, 
 1854, and died , and had issue : 
 
 1. Abram Cabell Carrington 9. Born 
 January 26, 1894. 
 
 2. Elizabeth Crutchfield Carrington 9. 
 Born June 30, 1896. 
 
 b. Stapleton Crutchfield 8. Born Au 
 gust 24, 1868. Died . 
 
 He married on September 12, 1893, Mary 
 Lee Van House, born December 12, 1873, 
 and had issue by her : 
 
 1. Elizabeth Mercer Crutchfield 9. Born 
 March 18, 1895. Died July 7, 1896. 
 
The life of General Hugh Mercer 121 
 
 2. Joy Mantlebert Crutchfield 9. Born 
 December 23, 1896. 
 
 c. Susan Gatewood Crutchfield 8. Born 
 December 23, 1870. 
 
 Married on October 24, 1895, to Daniel 
 Shriver Kussell 8, and had issue : 
 
 1. Elizabeth Mantlebert Kussell 9. 
 Born August 14, 1896. 
 
 2. Eleanor Blain Eussell 9. Born Oc 
 tober 26, 1898. 
 
 d. Anne Minor Crutchfield 8. Born Feb 
 ruary 14, 18. Died May 22, 1898. 
 
 e. Margaretta Taylor Crutchfield 8. Born 
 November 7, 1876. 
 
 /. Elizabeth French Crutchfield 8. Born 
 February 3, 1879. 
 
 Married Mr. John Minor Gatewood of 
 Boston, June 1, 1905. 
 
 g. Mercer Forbes Crutchfield 8. Born 
 August 15, 1881. 
 
 6. Margaretta Herndon Chew 7. Born 
 April, 1846. 
 
 She married, on January 28, 1873, Ar 
 thur Taylor (born October 13, 1844) of 
 Fredericksburg, Va. They have issue as 
 follows : 
 
122 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 a. Bobert Chew Taylor 8. Born October 
 7, 1879. 
 
 b. Fanny Mackall Taylor 8. Born Oc 
 tober 4, 1881. 
 
 c. Margaretta Mercer Taylor 8. Born 
 April 15, 1885. 
 
 The children of William Fairlie Patton 6 
 (39) and Harriet Shepherd Buck 6 (40) 
 were : 
 
 1. Anthony Patton 7. Born . Died 
 
 January 21, 1905. 
 
 He married Virginia Bernard Coakley 
 on , 18 . No issue. 
 
 2. Mary Patton 7, twin of the above. 
 Born . Died . 
 
 She married Eichard Henry Catlett 7, 
 
 born , of Staunton, Va. They have 
 
 three children. 
 
 3. William Fairlie Patton 7. Died . 
 
 4. . Died in infancy. 
 
 5. Anne Gordon Patton 7. Born . 
 
 She married, on , 18 , Gen. Jno. 
 
 Eogers Cooke. Born June 10, 1833. Died 
 April 10, 1891, and had eleven children. 
 
 6. Fairlie Preston Patton 7. Born 
 March 10, 1851. 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 123 
 
 He married Winnie T. Branham (born 
 April 18, 1853) on April 18, 1875. They 
 have five children. 
 
 The children of Mary Patton 7 (163) and 
 Richard Henry Catlett 7 (164) are : 
 
 1. Charles Catlett. Born August 18, 
 1865. 
 
 He married, on November 6, 1890, Eliza 
 beth Marye Hunton, daughter of James 
 Innis Hunton of Warrenton, Va., and had 
 issue by her as follows : 
 
 a. Lucy Hunton Catlett. Born Septem 
 ber 26, 1891. 
 
 b. Richard Henry Catlett. Born Octo 
 ber 19, 1892. 
 
 c. Elizabeth McNemara Catlett. Born 
 June 22, 1895. 
 
 2. Richard Henry Catlett. Born Novem 
 ber 27, 1868. 
 
 3. William Fairlie Catlett. Born Au 
 gust 8, 1871. Died November , 1872. 
 
 The Cooke Branch 
 
 The children of Anne Gordon Patton 7 
 (167) and Gen. Jno. Rogers Cooke 7 (168) 
 were: 
 
 1. Jno. Rogers Cooke (8), Jr. Born 
 March 29, 1865. 
 
124 The life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 2. Fairlie Patton Cooke 8. Born May 
 2, 1867. 
 
 Married October 26, 1904, to Miss Mary 
 Edmonia Rogers of Richmond, Va. 
 
 3. Ellen Mercer Cooke 8. Born . 
 
 She married, on November 14, 1895, Aus 
 tin Brockenbrough 8. Born April 18, 1862, 
 and had issue: 
 
 a. Austin Brockenbrough. Born July 6, 
 1899. 
 
 b. Anne Gordon Brockenbrough. Born 
 April 27, 1903. 
 
 4. Philip St. Geo. Cooke 8. Born No 
 vember 3, 1871. 
 
 5. EstenCookeS. Born March 10, 1873. 
 Died , 1873. 
 
 6. Wilt Cooke 8. Born March 10, 1873. 
 Died , 1873. 
 
 7. Rachel Cooke 8. Born June 16, 1874. 
 
 8. Harriet Shepherd Cooke 8. Born Au 
 gust 10, 1876. Married, on March 27, 1900, 
 to Mr. William Jefferson Wallace. Born 
 , 18 . Issue: Virginia Gordon Wal 
 lace. Born March 12, 1903. 
 
 9. Nanny Gordon Cooke 8. Born Octo 
 ber 5, 1878. Married, on October 24, 
 1905, Stafford A. Parker, of Richmond, 
 Va. 
 
 10. Stuart Cooke 8. Born December 8, 
 1879. Married, on January 22, 1903, to 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 125 
 
 Miss Martha Ann Lundy (born July 18, 
 ) of Bichmond, Va. 
 
 The children of Fairlie Preston Patton 7 
 (169) and Winnie T. Branham 7 (170) are: 
 
 1. Fairlie Clifton Patton. Born Decem 
 ber 4, 1876. 
 
 2. Sterling Hume Patton. Born De 
 cember 19, 1878. Died December 28, 1878. 
 
 3. Eobert Antony Patton. Born De 
 cember 13, 1879. 
 
 4. Mary Alice Patton. Born May 8, 
 1884. 
 
 5. Eugenie Virginia Patton. Born April 
 24, 1886. 
 
 6. William Henry Patton. Born Decem 
 ber 22, 1887. 
 
 7. John Mercer Patton. Born Febru 
 ary 9, 1891. 
 
 8. Winnie Baidie Patton. August 6, 
 1893. 
 
 9. Hugh Peyton Patton. October 26, 
 1895. 
 
 The Herndon Family 
 
 The children of Margaretta Patton 6 
 (41) and John Minor Herndon 6 (41) were : 
 
 1. Ellen Mercer Herndon 7. Born April 
 29, 1836. Died January 29, 1888. 
 
126 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 2. Nanny Gordon Herndon 7. Born 
 , 1838. Died August 1, 1862. 
 
 3. Elizabeth Fairlie Herndon 7. Born 
 , 1841. Died January 3, 1892. 
 
 She married, on , 18 , Seth Barton 
 
 French 7 (born October 5, ), who is a 
 
 prominent financier in the city of New 
 York. They had three children : 
 
 a. Margaretta Patton French 8. Born 
 July 25, 1857. Died November 30, 1878. 
 
 b. John Herndon French. Born August 
 4, 1859. 
 
 He married, on November 14, 1888, 
 Sarah Ann Spies Cockrane 8 (born Febru 
 ary 18, 1865), by whom he has children: 
 
 1. Seth Barton French, Jr. Born Au 
 gust 17, 1889. 
 
 2. Hilah Cockrane French. Born Janu 
 ary 28, 1891. 
 
 3. Ellen Mercer French. Born March 
 8, 1896. 
 
 4. John Herndon French, Jr. Born 
 February 26, 1898. 
 
 c. George Barton French 8. Born Feb 
 ruary 12, 1864. 
 
 Married Adela Lesher on April 29, 1886. 
 No issue. 
 He next married Miss of Denver. 
 
 d. Nannie Gordon French 8. Born 
 March 25, 1866. 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 127 
 
 She married, on April 21, 1885, Charles 
 Steele 8 (born May 5, 1857), who is a mem 
 ber of the firm of J. P. Morgan & Co., 
 bankers, New York City. They have 
 children : 
 
 a. Eleanor Herndon Steele 8. Born July 
 12, 1891. 
 
 b. Nancy Gordon Steele 9. Born Octo 
 ber 11, 1894. 
 
 c. Catheryn Nevitt Steele. Born March 
 1, 1896. 
 
 THE DESCENDANTS OF COL. HUGH MEKCEE 
 
 AND LOUISA GRIFFIN 
 
 The children of Col. Hugh Mercer 5 (31) 
 of the "Sentry Box," Fredericksburg, 
 Va., and Louisa Griffin 5 (32), his wife, 
 were: 
 
 1. Hugh Weedon Mercer 6. Born No 
 vember 27, 1808. Died June 9, 1877. He 
 settled in Savannah, Ga. Married, first, 
 Mary Stiles Anderson 6 (born September 
 17, 1812; died February 3, 1855) of Savan 
 nah, Ga., on February 5, 1834, and had by 
 her six children. He married, second, Mrs. 
 George A. Cuyler 6 (nee Steenberger) of 
 Virginia, and had one child, a daughter. 
 
 He was Major-General in the Confeder 
 acy, and died at Baden-Baden, Germany. 
 
 2. George Weedon Mercer 6. Born 
 
128 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 January 3, 1816. Died September 9, 1858, 
 unmarried. 
 
 3. Julia Weedon Mercer 6. Born . 
 
 Died December 10, 1883. 
 
 She married, on May 12, 1825, Dr. Eob- 
 ert Page Waller 6 (born - ; died July 21, 
 1872) of Williamsburg, Va., and had issue. 
 
 4. John Cyrus Mercer 6. Born at Fred- 
 ericksburg, May 12, 1810. Died March 26, 
 1884. He practiced medicine in Williams- 
 burg, Va.; was appointed Surgeon in the 
 U. S. Navy; resigned; appointed Surgeon 
 in the Confederate States Navy; with the 
 Marine Hospital, Norfolk. 
 
 He married Catherine Waller 6, died 
 May 24, 1892, daughter of Dr. Eobert Page 
 Waller, and had issue. 
 
 5. Louisa Mercer 6. She married Rev. 
 Dr. John Leyburn 6, a Presbyterian min 
 ister. Born - . Died - . No issue. 
 
 Miss Julia Weedon Mercer was the sec 
 ond wife of Dr. E. P. Waller, his first wife 
 being Eliza Corbin Griffin. 
 
 The children of Gen. Hugh Weedon Mer 
 cer 6 (211) and Mary Stiles Anderson 6 
 (212), his first wife, are: 
 
 1. George Anderson Mercer 7. Born 
 February 9, 1835. 
 
 He married, on October 23, 1861, Nanny 
 Maury Herndon 7 (died June 16, 1885) of 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 129 
 
 Fredericksburg, Va., daughter of Dr. Bro- 
 die Herndon, and by her had issue : 
 
 1. Nannie Herndon Mercer 8. Born 
 January 8, 1866. 
 
 She married, on April 24, 1889, Joseph 
 Muir Lang 8 (born February 4, 1861) and 
 has issue : 
 
 a. George Mercer Lang. Born July 13, 
 1894. 
 
 2. George Anderson Mercer. Born 
 March 2, 1868. 
 
 He married, on April 19, 1892, Mary 
 Walter 8 of Savannah, Ga. (born October 
 8, 1872), and has issue: 
 
 a. George Anderson Mercer. Born Feb 
 ruary 7, 1893. 
 
 b. George Walter Mercer. Born April 
 20, 1897. 
 
 3. Lewis Herndon Mercer 8. Born 
 March 4, 1870. Settled in New York. 
 
 4. Eobert Lee Mecrer 8. Born Novem 
 ber 24, 1871. 
 
 He married, on October 27, 1896, Kath- 
 erine Mackay Stiles 8 of Cartersville, Ga. 
 Born April 29, 1870. 
 
 5. Edward Clifford Anderson Mercer 8. 
 Born November 13, 1873. 
 
 He married, on June 8, 1898, Josephine 
 Freeland 8 of Charleston, S. C. Born 
 March 4, 1875. 
 
130 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 6. Hugh Weedon Mercer 8. Died in in 
 fancy, February 3, 1871. Born August 25, 
 1863. 
 
 7. Brodie Herndon Mercer 8. Born 
 , 1876. Died in infancy, June 13, 1878. 
 
 3. Hugh Weedon Mercer 7. Born 
 March 3, 1846. Died June 7, 1847. 
 
 2. William Gordon Mercer 7. Born 
 May 26, 1843. Died November 26, 1844. 
 
 4. Eobert Lee Mercer 7. Born July 10, 
 1848. 
 
 5. Mary Stuart Mercer 7. Born Janu 
 ary 12, 1842. 
 
 She married, on February 5, 1863, Gen 
 eral Henry Harrison Walker of Sussex 
 County, Va. (born October 15, 1833), and 
 has issue. General Walker s father was 
 John Harrison Walker of Sussex County, 
 Va., and his mother was Marie Louise Car- 
 gill, also of Sussex County. They had ten 
 children, of whom General Walker was 
 second child. 
 
 6. Georgia Anderson Mercer 7. Born 
 September 6, 1851. Died December 5, 1878. 
 
 She married, on January 15, 1874, Eob 
 ert Ap thorp Boit of Boston, Mass. (Born 
 April 29, 1846.) She died at the birth of 
 her second child, leaving two daughters. 
 
 1. Mary Anderson Mercer 8. Born 
 September 5, 1877. 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 131 
 
 2. Georgia Mercer 8. Born November 
 25, 1875. 
 
 The child of Gen. Hugh Weedon Mercer 
 6 (211) and Mrs. George A. Cuyler 6 (nee 
 Bessie Steenberger) (213), his second 
 wife, is : 
 
 1. Alice. 
 
 The children of Gen. Henry H. Walker 7 
 (251) and Mary Mercer 7 (250) are: 
 
 1. Mary Mercer Walker 8. Born May 
 29, 1864. 
 
 She married, on September 17, 1890, 
 George Evelyn Harrison 8 of Brandon-on- 
 the-James-River, Va. 
 
 2. Louise Cargill Walker 8. Born Sep 
 tember 25, 1869. 
 
 3. Henry Harrison Walker 8. Born 
 January 11, 1872. 
 
 4. Hugh Mercer Walker 8. Born April 
 17, 1876. 
 
 5. Alice Stuart Walker 8. Born Novem 
 ber 24, 1877. 
 
 She married, on January 7, 1899, Edwin 
 A. Stevens Lewis of Castle Point, Hobo- 
 ken, N. J. 
 
 The children of Dr. Eobert Page Waller 
 6 (216) and Julia Weedon Mercer 6 (215) 
 were: 
 
132 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 1. Hugh Mercer Waller 7. Born De 
 cember, 1829. Died May 30, 1896. 
 
 2. Laura Page Waller 7. Born July 31, 
 1828. 
 
 She married, on October 15, 1846, Dr. 
 William Sylvanus Morris 7 of Lynchburg, 
 Va. (born March 17, 1821; died December 
 20, 1893), and had issue: 
 
 3. Louisa Mercer Waller 7. Born Feb 
 ruary 7, 1826. Died October 30, 1856. She 
 married Captain J. B. Cosnahan of South 
 
 Carolina 7 (born 1821, died 1862) on , 
 
 1843, and had issue : 
 
 4. Julia Weedon Waller 7. Born No 
 vember 23, 1836. Died October 30, 1860. 
 
 5. Isabella Stuart 7. Born 1833. Died 
 May 15, 1855. 
 
 Kate Page Waller 7. Born November 
 15, 1840. 
 
 She married, on July 3, 1861, Charles 
 Scott Langhorne 7 (born January 23, 1836; 
 died March 31, 1896). 
 
 (Issue: page 95 of Notebook of Mercer 
 Family.) 
 
 The children of Dr. William Sylvanus 
 Morris 7 (280) and Page Waller 7 (279) 
 were: 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 133 
 
 1. Mary Mercer Morris. Born . 
 
 She married, on , Mr. Nowlin of 
 
 Lynchburg. 
 
 2. Charles Morris. 
 
 3. Eobert Page Waller Morris. He 
 married. 
 
 Judge of United States District Court of 
 Minnesota, appointed by President Roose 
 velt, and late Member of Congress from 
 Minnesota. 
 
 4. John Speed Morris 8. 
 
 He married, on February 19, 1882, Pattie 
 Cary Kean 8 (born April 11, 1858) and had 
 issue : 
 
 a. Robert Morris 9. Born , 1883. 
 
 b. Mary Randolph Morris 9. 
 
 c. Page Waller Morris 9. Born July 1, 
 1896. 
 
 d. William Sylvanus Morris 9. Born 
 May 6, 1888. 
 
 5. Lou Belle Morris 8. 
 
 She married, first, Mr. Langhorne of 
 Lynchburg, and had issue: 
 "l. Sallie. 
 
 2. Bessie. 
 
 She married, second, on , Robert 
 
 Stanard 8, and left issue: 
 
 1. Virginia. Born . 
 
 2. . Born . 
 
134 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 The children of J. B. Cosnahan 8 (282) 
 and Louisa Mercer Waller 8 (281) are: 
 
 1. Eoberta Ould Cosnahan 9. Born 
 April 29, 1844. 
 
 She married, on December 25, 1871, 
 Charles Camm 9, born April 18, 1844, and 
 had issue living : 
 
 Florence Waller Camm. Born March 9, 
 1874. 
 
 Edward Camm. Born February 28, 1876. 
 
 Louise Page. Born September 2, 1879. 
 
 3. Mary Mercer Cosnahan 9. Born Oc 
 tober 5, 1850. 
 
 She married, on December 22, 1869, Prof. 
 Thomas Jeffres Stubbs 9 of William and 
 Mary College (born September 14, 1841), 
 and had issue living : 
 
 a. Annie Waller Carter Stubbs 10. Born 
 January 7, 1872. 
 
 fc. J. T. Stubbs, Jr., 10. Born December 
 11, 1879. 
 
 c. Lucy Talioferro Conway Stubbs. Born 
 October 11, 1882. 
 
 d. Mary Mercer Stubbs. Born June 1, 
 1885. 
 
 The children of Dr. John Cyrus Mercer 
 6 (217) and Mary Catherine Waller 6 (218) 
 were: 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 135 
 
 1. Eobert Page Mercer 7. Died in in 
 fancy. 
 
 2. Mary Louisa Mercer 7. Born June 
 12, 1839. 
 
 She married, on January 3, 1867, Eev. 
 Daniel Blain 7 (born November 20, 1838) 
 of the West Hanover Presbytery, Va., and 
 had issue : 
 
 3. Eliza Christina Mercer 7. 
 
 She married, on November 26, 1861, Dr. 
 
 Beverly St. George Tucker 7 (born ; 
 
 died December, 1896), and had issue : 
 
 4. Thomas Hugh Mercer 7. Born in 
 1845. Died 1864. Unmarried. Lieutenant 
 G. S. A. 
 
 5. Corbin Waller Mercer 7. Born April 
 2, 1845. 
 
 He married, on November 25, 1885, Fan 
 nie Burwell Nelson 7 (born July 16, 1848), 
 daughter of William Nelson of Yorktown, 
 second grandson of Governor Nelson, and 
 had issue: 
 
 6. Catherine Stuart Mercer 7. Born at 
 Williamsburg, 1847. 
 
 She married, on November 26, 1873, Wil 
 liam Stuart Wall (died in Durham, N. C., 
 1891), and had issue: 
 
 7. John Leyburn Mercer 7. Born Au 
 gust 2, 1849. 
 
 He married, on March 31, 1875, Jean Sin- 
 
136 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 clair Bright 7 (born December 20, 1850), 
 daughter of Samuel Bright of Williams- 
 burg, and had issue : 
 
 8. Blakely Carter Mercer 7. Died in in 
 fancy. 
 
 9. Eobert Page Mercer 7. 
 
 He married Sally Tourman 7, and they 
 have issue: 
 
 10. Isabella Stuart Waller Mercer 7. 
 Born September 29, 1858. She married on 
 October 18, 1888, Charles McGary 7 (born 
 November 12, 1858), of Durham, N. C., and 
 have issue. Charles McGary was son of 
 Captain P. McGary of the U. S. Navy, and 
 was born in Buenos Ayres. 
 
 2. George Weedon Mercer 7. Born 
 June 4, 1863. 
 
 He married Elizabeth Butterworth 7 
 (born September 9, 1872) on January 5, 
 1893, and has issue : 
 
 The children of Rev. Daniel Blain 7 (328) 
 and Mary Louisa Mercer 7 (327) are: 
 
 1. Rev. John Mercer Blain 8. Born 
 April 30, 1869. 
 
 He went as a missionary to China and 
 there married, on August 24, 1897, Claude 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 137 
 
 Lacy Grier 8 of North Carolina. They have 
 issue : 
 
 a. Daniel Blain 9. Born December 17, 
 1898. 
 
 b. Mary Grier Blain. Born October 27, 
 1900. 
 
 c. Margaret Gary Blain. Born October 
 14, 1903. 
 
 2. Randolph Harrison Blain 8. Born 
 January 12, 1871. Married Jean Throck- 
 morton Forman, August 23, 1899. Issue: 
 (1) Mary Louise. Born August 14, 1900, at 
 Coresville, Va. (2) Stanton Forman. Born 
 in Louisville, Ky., July 22, 1902. 
 
 3. Samuel Stuart Blain 8. Born Octo 
 ber 18, 1872. 
 
 4. Hugh Mercer Blain 8. Born Decem 
 ber 26, 1874. Married, at Waynesboro, Va., 
 Mary Moore Winston, June 26, 1901. Is 
 sue: (1) Elizabeth Winston. Born Novem 
 ber 28, 1902, (2) Hugh Mercer. Born Au 
 gust 14, 1905. 
 
 5. Daniel Blain 8. Son of Eev. Daniel 
 Blain and Mary Louise, his wife, nee Mer 
 cer. Born November 23, 1877. Died Octo 
 ber 28, 1879. 
 
 6. Robert Waller Blain 8. Born June 
 18, 1879. 
 
 7. Gary Randolph Blain 8. Born March 
 11, 1882. 
 
138 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 The children of Dr. Beverly St. G. 
 Tucker 7 (330) and Eliza Christina Mercer 
 7 (329) are: 
 
 1. John Speed Tucker 8. 
 He married. 
 
 2. Dr. Beverly Tucker 8. 
 He married. 
 
 3. Eliza Christina Tucker 8. Born . 
 
 She married. 
 
 4. St. George Tucker 8. 
 
 5. Hugh Mercer Tucker 8. 
 
 6. Henrietta Elizabeth Tucker 8. 
 
 The issue of Corbin Waller Mercer 7 
 (332) and Hannie Burwell Nelson 7 (333) 
 are: 
 
 1. William Nelson Mercer 8. Born Sep 
 tember 27, 1888. Died April 2, 1889. 
 
 2. Waller Nelson Mercer 8. Born No 
 vember 3, 1891. 
 
 The children of William Lewis Wall 7 
 (335) and Catherine Stuart Mercer 7 (334) 
 are: 
 
 1. Mary Stuart Wall 8. Born Decem 
 ber 17, 1875. 
 
 She married, on June 1, 1898, William 
 Guthrie 8 (born January 12, 1874). 
 
The Life of General Hugh Mercer 139 
 
 2. Catherine Mercer Wall 8. Born 
 March 7, 1882. 
 
 3. William Lewis Wall, Jr., 8. Born 
 September 21, 1887. 
 
 The children of John Leyburn Mercer 7 
 (336) and Jean Sinclair Bright 7 (337) are: 
 
 1. Jean Christine Mercer 8. Born De 
 cember 23, 1875. 
 
 2. Mary Waller Mercer 8. Born Octo 
 ber 13, 1877. 
 
 3. Thomas Hugh Mercer 8. Born No 
 vember 6, 1879. 
 
 4. John Leyburn Mercer 8. Born Octo 
 ber 11, 1881. Died July 16, 1882. 
 
 The issue of Eobert Page Mercer 7 (340) 
 and Sally Tourman 7 (341) is: 
 
 1. Hugh Mercer 8. Born August 4, 
 1893. Died October, 1904. 
 
 The issue of Charles McGary 7 (343) and 
 Isabella Stuart Waller Mercer 7 (342) are: 
 
 1. . Born September 17, . 
 
 Died before being named. 
 
 2. Mary Mercer McGary. Born Janu 
 ary 29, 1891. 
 
140 The Life of General Hugh Mercer 
 
 3. Annie Bell McGary. Born February 
 20, 1893. 
 
 4. Isabel Stuart McGary. Born March 
 15, 1895. 
 
 The issue of George Weedon Mercer 7 
 (344) and Bessie Butterworth 7 (345) is: 
 
 1. Linden Waller Mercer 8. Born Au 
 gust 19, 1893. Died June 2, 1896. 
 
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