Western Pennsylvania Genealogy
Compiled by Douglas H. Lusher


Family Group Record



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Brig.-Gen. Hugh Mercer and Isabella Gordon




Husband Brig.-Gen. Hugh Mercer 1 2

           Born: 1723 - near Aberdeen, Scotland 1
     Christened: 
           Died: Abt Jan 1777
         Buried: 


         Father: [Father] Mercer (      -      )
         Mother: 


       Marriage: 



Wife Isabella Gordon 1

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Abt 1787
         Buried: 


Children
1 M Col. Hugh Mercer 1

           Born: Jul 1776 - Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania Co, VA 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 1 Dec 1853 1
         Buried: 




General Notes: Husband - Brig.-Gen. Hugh Mercer


He was born near Aberdeen, Scotland, and was liberally educated. He became a physician and served as a surgeon on the bloody field of Culloden, in 1745. About 1750 he came to Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and afterwards removed to Virginia. He served with Washington under Braddock at the fateful battle of the Monongahela, and in 1756 was a captain in Gen. Armstrong's expedition to Kittanning. In 1758 he was promoted to colonel and served under Forbes. Twelve years later he left his drug store and an extensive medical practice and drew his sword in behalf of his adopted country. On June 5, 1776, he was commissioned as a brigadier-general and won distinction at the battle of Trenton. He commanded the van of the American army at Princeton, where he fell mortally wounded while rallying his troops in the face of a British charge.
In the action at Kittanning Gen. (then Capt.) Mercer was induced by some of his men, who were somewhat acquainted with the country (or claimed to be), to detach himself with twelve others to reach the road by a short route. Accounts differ as to the wound he received when he ran into an Indian ambush on the near route pointed out by his guides. One author says he was shot in the wrist and another states that his arm was broken. Bancroft says: "Mercer, who was wounded severely and separated from his companions, tracked his way by the stars and rivulets to Fort Cumberland."
Sixty-three days after Gen. Mercer had fallen on the battle-field, the Continental Congress resolved to erect a monument to his memory, in Fredericksburg, with a suitable inscription; and also resolved, "That the eldest son of General Warren, and the youngest son of General Mercer, be educated, from this time, at the expense of the United States."

He left a widow and a family of four sons and one daughter.

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Sources


1 Samuel T. Wiley, Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: John M. Gresham & Co., 1891), Pg 385.

2 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1914), Pg 1042, 1055.


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