18 Facts About Hugh Mercer

Hugh Mercer was a Scottish-born American military officer and physician who participated in the Seven Years' War and Revolutionary War.

Hugh Mercer settled in Virginia, continued his work as a physician, and later became a brigadier general in the American Continental Army and close friend to George Washington.

Hugh Mercer bought his way onto a ship and moved to America, settling near what is Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and practiced medicine for eight years.

In 1755, when General Edward Braddock's army was cut down by the French and Indians during the first British attempt to take Fort Duquesne, Hugh Mercer was shocked by the same butchery he remembered at Culloden.

Hugh Mercer came to the aid of the wounded and eventually took up arms in support of the army that a few years prior had hunted him, this time as a soldier, not a surgeon.

Hugh Mercer trekked 100 miles through the woods for 14 days, injured and with no supplies, until he found his way back to Fort Shirley, where he was recognized and promoted.

Hugh Mercer rose to the rank of colonel and commanded garrisons.

Hugh Mercer named the settlement between the rivers "Pittsburgh", modern Pittsburgh.

When Hugh Mercer arrived in Fredericksburg, it was a thriving Scottish community that must have been a happy sanctuary for a Scotsman who could never again see his homeland.

Hugh Mercer became a noted member and businessman in town, buying land and involving himself in local trade.

Hugh Mercer became a member of the Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge in 1767.

Hugh Mercer's apothecary in Fredericksburg, Virginia is a museum.

In 1774, George Washington sold Ferry Farm, his childhood home, to Hugh Mercer, who wanted to make this prized land into a town where he and his family would settle for the remainder of his days.

Hugh Mercer was finally beaten to the ground, bayoneted repeatedly, and left for dead.

When he was discovered, Hugh Mercer was carried to the field hospital in the Thomas Clarke House at the eastern end of the battlefield.

Hugh Mercer then moved and quartered his forces to Morristown in victory.

James Peale painted a version of "Battle of Princeton" whose background shows a very indistinct portrait of Hugh Mercer being helped from the ground.

Famous direct descendants of Hugh Mercer were his grandson Virginia governor John Mercer Patton, his sons Confederate Lt.