The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-07-15
A PROUD LINEAGE.

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Baden Baden, Germany, was distinguished
officer In our late civil war. He had gradu-
ated at West Point iii the same class with
jeff. Davis, Rosencrans and Buel, and was a
gentleman of the highest character and a sol
| der of brilliant courage and military ca
pacity. Gen. Mercer was the uncle of our es-
teemed fellow-citizen, Col. Isaac Patton, Adj
iutant General of the State.
| The lineage of these two gentlemen was one
OF which they might justly be proud. The
grandfather of the one and the great grand
| father OF the other was one of the most Illus
trious men in our military history. Cen
Hugh Mercer, who fell at Princeton in our
Revolutionary war, was not only the beloved
and intimate friend of George Washington,
but was his preceptor and the inspirer of that
military pride, ambition and knowledge
which, with his noble patriotism and de-
votion to the cause of freedom, marked
Washington out as the leader of the Con-
tinental armies in the revolution Of ITS.
Hugh Mercer was a Scotchman and, when
quito u youth, engaged In the memorable
struggle of 1740, on the side of the Pretender,
and was badly wounded ct the battle of Cullo-
den, where the cause of the Stuarts received
its final and annihilatfng blow. With many
others, including the outlawed clans who
were involved i'm that disastrous struggle
Mercer fled to the American colonies and
settled in the ancient and historical town of
Fredericksburg, Virginia. Having been e1u-
Gated to the profession of physician and drug
gist he secured employment in drugstore
and from his previous reputation and service
Il l.;
tied and adventurous young men of the town
and country, who regarded him with special
respect and idolatry as chieftain of great
prowess. His narratives of his narrow es-
capes and thrilling adventures in one of
the most brilliant though brief campaigns
in English history were of the
most exciting and interesting character.
Among these young men who gathered
around the Hero of Cul1oden," as he was
called by the young Virginians, was
George Washington, whose mother then
resided with her family in Fredericksburg.
Washington was a protege of the great and
wealthy old Lord Fairfax, the proprietor of
the whole region of Virginia west of the Blue
Ridge, and had been employed to make sur
veys of his valuable possessions in the Valley
of the Shenandoah. Washington and Mercer
became intimate and cordial friends. They |
were members of the same Masonic lodge in |
and had been companions in |
many stirring adventures and eseapades |
among the Indians on the borders, wherein.
their courage and skill as hunters and |
scouts had been tested and Illustrated. |
When Gen. Braddock was sent to the colo |
MES with large force of regular troops, with |
a view of marching against the French forces
and possessions on the Monongahela, it was
to him byLord Fairfax to supplement
his regulars with q battalion of scouts and IT.
to be enlisted from among the young
Virginians. George Washington was selected
to command this battalion, and Hugh Mercer
was his second in command. The history of
this disastrous expedition is familiar to all
Americans. The only honors won therein
were due to the Virginia. scouts. Among the
sufferers from the disasters Of Braddocb
was Captain Mercer, who was badly wound
ed in the shoulder in the bloody defeat near
and retreat from the Monongahela and I'M
able to keep up with the fugitives, wandered
alone through the wilderness to Fort Cum
oerland one hundred miles distant, where he
arrived exhausted by wounds, hunger and
fatigue.
Returning to Fredericksburg at the close
If the disastrous compaign Of Braddock.
Mercer resumed his practice as physician
n that town. At the breaking out of the
Revolution Mercer promptly repaired to
he headquarters of the Continental army
md, on the demand of George Washington,
he Commander-in-C Chief, was appointed
3rigadier General. How gallantly and nobly
le discharged the duties of his command, and
With what efficiency he sustained his old
riend and companion in the fearful perils and
roubles which were encountered by them in
heir effort to discipline and control raw
militia in operations against regular troops,
nay be learned from the history Of Wash
ngton's retreat through New Jersey. This
otreat terminated in the glorious death
Il Mercer, the tragic circumstances OF
which had powerful influence in sustain
ng and nvigorating the courage of the militia.
{ was in the assault on the British position at
that Mercer led the vanguard His
len beginning to waver before the bayonet |
barge of the British he made an energetic