The Surgeon General from Scotland

Fans of  Outlander will immediately see the strange connection this first-patriot has with the main protagonists of the popular books and TV series,. A brawny, hot-headed Scot with a fiery passion meets a cool, calculating medical professional who takes on the British on two continents. Yet in this case, they combined in one person - Hugh Mercer, a man who cut a swathe from the streets of Aberdeen to the rugged bloody field of Culloden, to the war-torn mountains of Pennsylvania and the frozen farmlands of the Jerseys.

General Hugh Mercer

The Streets of Aberdeen

Hugh Mercer was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1725 to the Reverend William Mercer, a Church of Scotland minister and Ann Monro. He passed through the University of Aberdeen with a medical degree in 1744. That year, he joined the Jacobite army of Prince Charles Edward, the Pretender, and served as assistant surgeon at the disastrous engagement of Culloden in April 1746. He escaped the butchery that followed the battle and after months on the run, fled to America.

Country Doctor

The young surgeon, war-veteran, and fugitive settled in present-day Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, to ply his profession as a physician. When the French and Indian War broke out in 1755, he set aside his eight years of comfortable medical practice and offered his services to the provincial forces, taking part in several notable actions. 

Another Massacre

On the western frontier of Pennsylvania, Mercer helped treat the survivors of General Braddock’s destruction on the Monongahela River. Appalled by the butchery suffered by the wounded, Mercer put aside his disdain for the crown and joined Britain’s struggle for America.

Punitive Expedition

In September 1756, the newly appointed captain accompanied Colonel John Armstrong on his punitive expedition against the Indian villages at Kittanning and was severely wounded. Cut-off, he survived on his own for two weeks wandering over 100 miles before reaching the friendly outpost at Fort Shirley.  His devotion and gallantry were recognized. 

Mercer served under Col John Armstrong
in western Pennsylvania raid

Fort Duquesne

Two years later he fought as a lieutenant colonel at the capture of Fort Duquesne (renamed Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh) and subsequently commanded there. Mercer's first task was to construct a temporary fort to hold the two forks of the Ohio in case the French returned from the northwest. During this campaign, Mercer met and befriended Colonel George Washington of the Virginia Regiment. It would be an enduring friendship. 

The Old Dominion

The war ended in 1763 and because he had made friends with several Virginians, he decided to settle in a small port town with a small community of Scot ex-pats.  Though Mercer arrived in Fredericksburg to establish a medical practice, he found much more.  The town filled a void present since fleeing his homeland.

Mercer opened an Apothecary in his
adopted town of Fredericksburg

First Mother's Physician

In addition to practicing medicine, Mercer opened an apothecary in town. Like so many settlers, he bought land. He was physician to George Washington’s mother, Mary Ball Washington, and bought the Ferry Farm from her as his family homestead. 

One of Mercer's celebrated patients
was Mary Ball Washington

Civic Leader

He became active in local issues in town and was a prominent businessman. Along the way, he joined the masonic lodge that included Washington and so many other prominent Virginians. To say he was at last comfortable with life is an understatement. But he would soon leave his comfort to follow the drum one last time.

Mercer, George Washington and numerous founders
belonged to the Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge

The Minuteman

By 1775 the tensions between Britain and its colonies in North America had morphed from resistance to insurgency and then war. It was only natural the bold freedom-lover Mercer was would throw in his lot with the glorious cause and face his former enemies once more. He became a member of the Fredericksburg Committee of Safety. In September, Mercer was named commander of all minuteman companies in the four counties around Fredericksburg. 

Virginia Minutemen

The Continental

In January 1776 his talents were once more recognized. Virginia’s provincial congress appointed him a colonel in the 3rd Virginia Continental Line. He set to work drilling it into a crack unit but that command was short-lived. His old friend and comrade in arms, George Washington, was now commander in chief of the new Continental Army. Mercer enjoyed a fine military reputation, so Washington petitioned the Continental Congress to appoint him brigadier general that June.

Mercer commanded a Continental Line regiment
but was quickly promoted to the rank of
Brigadier General

Flying Camp Days

Washington immediately entrusted him to command the so-called Flying Camp, a mobile military reserve. He tried to employ it to support the main army during the New York campaign, but the unit was plagued by desertions, lack of manpower, and supply shortages. The Flying Camp was disbanded that winter. 

Fort Lee before evacuation

Battle Across the Jerseys

Mercer was also given the task of building what became Fort Lee on the New Jersey side of the North (Hudson) River. Although the fort fell without a fight during the British invasion of the Jerseys in late 1776, Mercer still enjoyed Washington’s complete confidence. He played a prominent role during the daring and masterful counter-stroke at Trenton on 26 December 1776, His brigade played a prominent role in driving the Hessian garrison out of the town where they were forced to surrender in a nearby field.

Mercer commanded a brigade at the crucial
assault on the Hessian garrison at Trenton

Escape from Assunpink

The Americans eventually moved to Assunpink Creek to await the inevitable British counter-stroke by a column of some 5,000 led by Major General Charles Earl Cornwallis. Some say Mercer may have suggested the famous rouse of leaving fires burning. Regardless, the British were duped when the Americans slipped away into the night and got behind Cornwallis’s column and attacked Princeton. 

After repulsing Cornwallis's columns at Assunpink Creek
the Americans slipped away in the night

Advance on Princeton

On 3 January 1777, Mercer, leading the advance corps ahead of the main body, ran into a brigade of some 1200 British regulars under Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood of the 17th regiment of Foot. A bloody exchange of volleys erupted in the vicinity of Stony Brook Bridge. Rather than retreat under the press of the redcoats, the imposing Scot plunged into battle against the better trained British. But his troops were forced back after stiff fighting.

Mawhood's brigade was all that stood
between Mercer and Princeton

Clash and Flurry of Blades

While attempting to rally his men, Mercer was shot off his horse. Refusing to surrender he drew his saber but was overpowered and bayoneted several times by angry British soldiers (who may have thought he was Washington). Fatally wounded, he was then carried to the nearby home of Thomas Clarke, where a British surgeons mate and some local women cared for him. When Washington learned his fate, he reached out to Cornwallis who graciously allowed Washington’s leading physician, Dr. Benjamin Rush, to attend the dying general. 

British bayonets mortally wound the gallant Scot turned Yankee

Final Home

The gallant soldier-surgeon Mercer lingered on but finally succumbed to his wounds on 12 January 1776. His body was taken to Philadelphia where he was buried. Had Mercer survived he clearly would have played an even more prominent role in securing America's freedom. But the greater tragedy is this educated and dedicated soldier-surgeon never had the chance to help build the nation whose liberty was paid for by his blood.

Gen Hugh Mercer's grave