| General
Hugh Mercer
When
Colonels Hugh Mercer and George Washington met for the first time, they bonded
a friendship that endured until the end. George Washington, as commander-in-chief
of the revolutionary forces, appointed Mercer as one of his four generals in June
1776.
During the
Revolutionary War, General George Washington and his troops moved quietly from
Trenton to the outskirts of the Stony Brook Settlement, near the Quaker Meetinghouse.
On January 3, 1777, they fought the British rear guard on the battlefield. The
Battle of Princeton became a turning point in our fight for independence. Brigadier
General Mercer's 350 men encountered two British regiments, and a mounted unit.
A fight began in the orchard of Quaker farmer, Thomas Clarke. Lore has it that
Mercer was impaled by an English soldier's bayonet, and not wanting to leave his
men and the battle, was given a place to rest under a white oak tree's trunk while
the fighting continued. When
the battle ended, General Mercer was taken to the Clarke House where he died nine
days later from his wounds. In
addition to our chapter's name, General Mercer gave his name to our county and
to numerous streets and parks throughout the state of New Jersey.
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Hugh
Mercer was born in 1726, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. His father was a minister
of Pitsligo Parish Church. At the age of eighteen, he graduated from Marischal college
as a doctor. In 1747, he left for America where he carried on his profession of
surgeon.
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