Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/337

1745. He emigrated to this country in 1747 and settled near what is now the town of Mereersburg. Pa. He served in the French and Indian war of 1755, and volunteered in Braddock's expedition to Fort Duquesne, being severely wounded in the shoulder at the battle of Monongahela, and wan- dering alone through the wilderness to Fort Cumber- land, a distance of 100 miles. He received a medal from the corporation of Philadelphia for his courage on this expedi- tion. In 1758 he became lieu- tenant-colonel, and accompa- nied the army under Gen. John Forbes to

Pittsburg, commanding that

post for several months. He then returned to practice, settling in Fredericksburg, Va., organ- ized and drilled the Virgina militia in 1775, and the minute-men the next year, and was appointed colonel of the 3d Virginia regiment. At Washing- ton's request he was chosen by congress brigadier- general in June, 1776, with the command of the flying camp. He accompanied the commander-in- chief in the retreat through New Jersey, led the column of attack at Trenton, and advised the night march on Princeton, in which he commanded the advance. When his men, who were chiefly militia, began to waver before the enemy, he made an energetic attempt to rally them, and was felled to the ground by a blow from the butt end of a musket. Although surrounded by the British, he arose, refused quarter, defended himself with his sword, and after a brief struggle, in which he was repeatedly bayoneted, was left for dead on the field. He was removed to a neighboring farm- house soon after the battle, and, on hearing the news of his condition. Washington despatched a flag of truce to Cornwallis, requesting that his aide- de-camp and nephew. Col. George Lewis, be per- mitted to remain with Mercer until his death, which occurred after several days of severe suffer- ing. His funeral at Philadelphia was attended by 30.000 people. The St. Andrew's society of Phila- delphia erected a monument to his memory in Laurel Hill cemetery, and congress made provision in 1793 for the education of his youngest son. Mercer county, Ky., is named in his honor. MERCER, James, member of the Continental congress, b. in Hampton county, Va., in 1747; d. there in June, 1793. He was graduated at William and Mary in 1767, engaged in thepre-Revolutionary movements, and was a member of the Virginia house of burgesses, of all the state conventions, and of the committee of safety. He served in con- gress in 1779-'80, and was a judge of admiralty and of the first Virginia court of appeals.

MERCER, Jesse, clergyman, b. in Halifax countv, N. C, 16 Dec, 1769 ; d. in Washington, Wilkes CO., Ga., 6 Sept., 1841. His father, Silas, removed to Georgia when Jesse was a child. Though with slight opportunities of early educa- tion, at the age of nineteen he was ordained as a Baptist minister. During a period of more than fifty years he was a diligent preacher in connection with various churches of which he was pastor, be- sides repeatedly traversing the state in tours of evangelization. In guiding the councils and pro- moting the interests of the Baptists of Georgia he was the most potent man of his generation. With an admirable balance of character and mental en- dowments, with a spirit equally progressive and conservative, a profound and effective preacher, and possessed of large wealth which he devoted generously to philanthropic objects, he was made to be the leader of his denomination. He was for years publisher and editor of the first Baptist news- paper in Georgia, the " Christian Index," and this journal he subsequently presented as a gift to the Georgia Baptist state convention. For eighteen years in succession he was elected president of this convention. In promoting foreign and domestic missions he was an untiring worker, and he was an earnest and generous advocate of educational interests. His donations, including legacies, to Mercer university, which was named in his honor, amounted to more than $40,000. To other benevo- lent objects he gave not less than $20,000. He re- ceived the honorary degree of D. D.

MERCER, John Francis, statesman, b. in Stafford county, Va., 17 May. 1759; d. in Phila- delphia, Pa., 30 Aug., 1821. He was graduated at William and Mary college in 1775, entered the 3d Virginia regiment as lieutenant in 1776, became captain in 1777, and was aide to Gen. Charles Lee till the battle of Monmouth, when his sympathy with that officer in his disgrace induced him to resign from the army. He returned to Virgina, but soon afterward raised and equipped, at his own expense, a troop of horse, of which he was com- missioned lieutenant-colonel, and, joining Gen. Robert Lawson's brigade, he served with it at Guilford and elsewhere until it was disbanded. He then attached his command to the forces under Lafayette, with whom he remained until the sur- render at Yorktown. After the war he studied law with Thomas Jefferson, and from 1782 till 1785 was a delegate from Virginia to the Continental con- gress. He married Sophie, daughter of Richard Sprigg, of West River, Md., in 1785, removed to " Cedar Park," his wife's estate, and soon became a leader in JMaryland politics. He was a delegate to the convention that framed the U. S. constitu- tion, but opposed the plan that was adopted, and withdrew without signing the document. He was in congress in 1792-'4. served in the legislature for several years, was governor of Maryland in 1801-'3, and after several years of retirement was asain in the legislature. Gov. Mercer was the trusted per- sonal and political fricTid of Jefferson. He died while on a visit to Philadelphia for medical advice. — His daughter, Margaret, b. in Annapolis, Md., in 1792: d. in Virginia in June, 1846, voluntarily reduced herself from affluence to poverty by free- ing her slaves and sending them to Liberia, and she subsequently taught for twenty years in Vir- ginia. She prepared two volumes for her pupils, "Studies for Bible Classes " and " Ethics, a Series of Lectures to Young Ladies." See memoir of her, bv f^nspar Morris (Philadelphia, 1848).

MERCHANT, Charles Spencer, soldier, b. in Albany, N. Y.. 22 Feb.. 1795; d. in Carlisle. Pa., 6 Dec, 1879. His father, George, was a graduate of Princeton, a paymaster in the army in the war of 1812-'15, subsequently mayor of Albany, and treasurer of the state of New York. The son was appointed to the recently estal)lished U. S. military academy, 7 Sept., 1812, and was a cadet of good character and attainments. He was graduated in