Hugh Mercer

Hugh Mercer
Hugh Mercer[1]
Born(1726-01-16)16 January 1726
Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Died12 January 1777(1777-01-12) (aged 50)
Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
Place of burial
Allegiance Jacobites
 Great Britain
 United States
Service / branch Jacobite Army
Pennsylvania Militia
Continental Army
Years of serviceJacobite Army (1745–1746)
Pennsylvania Militia (1755–1776)
Continental Army (1776–1777)
RankBrigadier general (Continental Army)
Battles / wars
Alma materUniversity of Aberdeen
RelationsHugh W. Mercer (grandson)
Johnny Mercer and George S. Patton (great-great-great grandsons)
Other workSurgeon, apothecary

Hugh Mercer (January 16, 1726 – January 12, 1777) was a Scottish brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He fought in the New York and New Jersey campaign and was mortally wounded at the Battle of Princeton.

He was born in Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen. He served as an assistant surgeon in Charles Edward Stuart's army during the Battle of Culloden in the Jacobite rising of 1745.

After the failed uprising, Mercer escaped to the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania, where he lived in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, which is present-day Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and Fredericksburg, Virginia. He worked as a physician, and established an apothecary. He served alongside George Washington in the provincial troops during the French and Indian War, and he and Washington became close friends.

  1. ^ Note this image of General Hugh Mercer (1726-1777) is erroneously labeled as Nova Scotia Governor Peregrine Hopson in the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society. Vol. XVI. Halifax: Wm. Macnab & Son. 1912. p. 1.