pied the chair. As the vote was about to be taken he arose, and with great emphasis expressed the view that his vote, as he understood the situation, meant no change in the policy of the institution to be benefited. Since his name has been frequently referred to in the controversy that has since arisen about this matter, it seems necessary and proper that his position should be understood.

He was a liberal in the true sense, and his influence for good was unsurpassed. Such a life was indeed "an epistle known and read of all men" who came into the remotest touch with him. Truly did he fulfil the mission which his noble father wished for him.

HUGH MERCER

BY JAMES SPOTTSWOOD KEENE, A. B.

Hugh Mercer was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, about 1725. It was that land, land of Wallace and of Bruce, which brought forth another son to fight-yea, die for liberty. There were two very different strains of Scottish blood which flowed through the veins of Hugh Mercer. The Mercers had been settled for generations around, and, sometimes in, Aberdeen. Some were ministers, while some were poets and soldiers. A second cousin of Hugh Mercer was James Mercer, poet, soldier and accomplished Greek scholar. He married a member of the Douglass family. Hugh Mercer was also related to William Mercer, poet, soldier and extensive writer, and friend of Warren Hastings. But Hugh Mercer's father, grandfather and great-grandfather were ministers of the Church of Scotland, located in the different districts of Aberdeenshire. His father, the Rev. William Mercer, was in charge of the Manse at Pittsligo, Aberdeenshire, from 1720 to 1748. It was, doubtless from his paternal ancestors that Hugh Mercer derived many of his religious characteristics. But he descended, also, from a fighting race. Anna Munroe, daughter of Sir Robert Munroe, was his mother. The father of Sir Robert Munroe was probably Col. Robert Munroe, who served in the German wars, and about 1640 participated in a dispute between the Covenanters and a party led by the Marquis of Huntley. Sir Robert Munroe fought with distinction in the British army at Fontenoy. He was ordered home to

*Awarded the Bennett History Medal for 1908.

1See Goolrick's Mercer, page 12. For considerable information on Mercer's Life I am indebted to this article.

oppose the Young Pretender, and was in command of the British army at the battle of Falkirk, in 1746, at which battle he was killed. And we shall see that Hugh Mercer proved himself on the battle-field worthy of his maternal ancestors.1

The boy probably remained under his father's instruction until the year 1740. In that year he entered Marischal College, Aberdeen, as a student of medicine. Earl Marischal had endowed the Chair of Medicine only about forty years before. The college, however, was founded in 1593, by George Keith, fifth Earl Marischal, and it has been the alma mater of many noted men. The youth learned well, while at college, the principles of the profession in which he afterwards became prominent. In 1744 a 'Hugh Mercer' is mentioned in the 'Album Studiensis' as a fourth-year student. Hugh Mercer left college that year. It is not certainly known whether he graduated. But, knowing that he practiced his profession shortly after leaving college, we may infer that he did.2

Dr. Mercer was engaged in the practice of his profession when Prince Charles Edward landed July 28th, 1745, at Lochnannadle, Scotland. He joined the Young Pretender. When and where he joined "Prince Charley" is not known. He may have been at the seige of Carlisle, and later at Falkirk. But he acted as an assistant surgeon in the army of Prince Charles on April 16th, 1746, at Culloden Moor. After the crushing defeat at Culloden Moor, the vanquished were treated by the British soldiers with cruelty. It is no wonder, then, that Dr. Hugh Mercer, having

1See Dictionary of National Biography by Sidney Lee, p. 265. Mercersburg Academy Literary Magazine for May, 1902. Goolrick's Mercer, pp. 12 and 13. The Great Historical Families of Scotland, by J. Taylor, p. 326.

2See Mercersburg Academy Literary Magazine for 1902. Dictionary of National Geography, by S. Lee, p. 264. Goolrick's Mercer, p. 13. Note in Scotland only graduates in medicine were allowed to practice.

bidden farewell to kindred and native land, embarked at Leith for America.1

He arrived at the port of Philadelphia in 1747. Several writers, however, give 1746 as the time that he reached that city. Just how long he remained there is not known. But some time after his arrival in this country he made his home on the frontier of Pennsylvania, at a place then described as "near Greencastle," now known as Mercersburg. Here he practiced his profession. As a physician he traversed the entire Conococheague Settlement, lying between Chambersburg and his own residence. Then that section of the country was but little more than a wilderness. Dr. Mercer's work must have been arduous. For many years he labored as a doctor in that part of the State.

Dr. Hugh Mercer, it is stated, was with Gen. Braddock at Monongahela, July 9th, 1755. But Winthrop Sargent, in his monograph of the expedition, implies uncertainty concerning this. Gen. Wilkinson says: "He served in the campaign of 1755 with Gen. Braddock, and was wounded through the shoulder in the unfortunate action near Fort Duquesne. Unable to retreat, he lay down under cover of a large fallen tree, and in the pursuit an Indian leaped upon this covert immediately over him, and after looking about a few seconds for the direction of the fugitives, he sprang off without observing the wounded man who lay at his feet. So soon as the Indians had killed the wounded, scalped the dead, rifled the baggage, and cleared the field, the unfortunate Mercer, finding himself exceedingly faint and thirsty from loss of blood, and after drinking plentifully found himself so

1See Goolrick's Mercer, pages 13 and 14; Crown Cyc., p. 496. Mercersburg Academy Literary Magazine for May, 1902. Howe's Historical Collections of Va., p. 480. Britannica Encyc., Vol. VI, p. 706. Washington and the Generals of the Revolution, by A. Hart, p. 217. 2A distance of about 15 miles.

3See Appleton's Cyc. of American Biography, account of Mercer. Mercersburg Academy Literary Magazine for May, 1902.

much refreshed that he was able to walk, and commenced his return by the road the army had advanced, but being without subsistence, and more than a hundred miles from any Christian settlement, he expected to die of famine, when he observed a rattlesnake on his path, which he killed and contrived to skin, and throwing it over his sound shoulder, he subsisted on it as the claims of nature urged until he reached Fort Cumberland on the Potomack.""1

After the defeat of the English and their allies at Monongahela, the Indians became more and more troublesome to the settlers on the frontier of Pennsylvania. They, therefore, in selfdefense formed among themselves companies of Rangers. Dr. Mercer was appointed captain of one of the companies, the date of his commission being March, 1756. The territory that was in his charge extended, from the Welsh Run district and what is now Mercersburg, to remote regions along the foot-hills. He frequently made McDowell's Fort, now Bridgeport, his headquarters. And when he was there he acted as surgeon to the garrison.2

In order to put a stop to the Indian depredations, a force set out in 1756 to penetrate into their country, and there strike a telling blow. The battalion under the command of Col. Armstrong consisted of about 250 men, a part of the First Pennsylvania Regiment. Captain Mercer, with his company, went with the troops. They reached as far as the Indian town of Kittaning, inhabited by the Delawares, on the southeast side of the Allegheny river, and within twenty-five miles of the French garrison of Ft. Duquesne. After a fight the town was destroyed and a

1See Appleton's Cyc. of American Biography, account of Mercer; International Cyc., account of Mercer; Harper's Cyc. of U. S. History, p. 162. Dictionary of National Biography, by S. Lee, p. 264. Gen. J. Wilkinson's Memoirs, Vol. I, foot-notes, pp. 146 and 147. The author says he heard the anecdote.

2See Mercersburg Academy Literary Magazine for May, 1902.