Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/363

 MERCER

MERCER

elected secretary of the Republican state central committee. In lb«5 lie removed to Omaha, and for several years was chairman of the Republican city and county committees. He was married, at Washington, D.C., June 6, 1894, to Birdie Abbott, of MinneajK)lis, Minn. In 1896 he was made secre- tary of the Republican congressional committee, and in 1897-98 was chairman of the Republican state central committee. He was a representative from the second district of Nebraska in the 58d- 57th congresses. 1893-1903.

MERCER, George, soldier, was born at Marl- borough, Va., June 23, 1733; son of John (q.v.) and Catherine (Mason) Mercer. He was edu- cated at the College of William and Mary, and was lieutenant and captain in Col. George Wash- ington's regiment in the French and Indian war, becoming later lieutenant-colonel, and aide-de- camp to Washington. He, with George Wash- ington, represented Frederick county in the Vir- ginia house of burgesses in 1761-62. He was agent of the Ohio Company in England, 1763-64, and while there was appointed stamp distributor in Virginia, but on reaching Virginia and learn- ing of the opposition to the Stamp Act he re- signed his appointment, and returned to England. On Aug. 18, 1767, he was married to Mary Neville, of Lincoln's Inn Fields, and shortly after returned to Virginia. His wife died in Richmond, June 4, 1768, without issue. He returned to England and was appointed by Lord Hillsborough lieu- tenant-governor of North Carolina, Sept. 17, 1768. He does not appear to have assumed the office and soon after his appointment he resigned. He died in England in April, 1784.

MERCER* Henry Chapman, anthropologist, was born in Doylestown, Pa., June 24, 1856; son of William Robert and Mary Rebecca (Chapman) Mercer. He was graduated from Harvard in 1879; was curator of American and prehistoric archaeology. University of Pennsylvania, 1894- 97; and was editor of Antliro{)ology in the American Naturalist, 1893-97. He made a special study of the remains of prehistoric animals in their relation to man, and discovered remains of ancient man in drift gravels and flint workings of America and Europe. He explored the caverns of Yucatan and was the first to fix the geological date for the ruins on the peninsula; discovered several new species of extinct animals, and made an extensive examination of the remains of the early German settlers in Pennsylvania; and after several experiments he developed their process of making and decorating pottery. In 1899, he invented a new method for the manu- facture of tiles for mural decoration. He was an honorary member of the U.S. archaeological com- mission held at Madrid, Spain, in 1893. He is the author of: Lenape Stone (1885); Hill Caves of

Yucatan (1896); Reaearchea upon the Antiquity of Man in the Delaware Valley and the Eastern United States (1897); TooU of the Nation Maker (1897).

MERCER, Hugh, soldier, was born in Aber- deen, Scotland, in 1720. He was graduated in medicine at the University of Aberdeen; was an assistant surgeon in the army at the battle of CuUoden in 1745; immigrated to America in 1747 and settled in Pennsylvania in 17- 47. He served as a captain under Wash- ington in the French and Indian war, was severely wounded at the battle of Monon- gahela, and being pursued by the Indi- ans, he found refuge

in the trunk of a /^ « ^9^^ \ " I ^ hollow tree, and trav- elled alone more than- one hundred miles to reach Fort Cuml^erland. He

was presented with a medal by the corporatiott of Philadelphia '* for his gallantry and military skill proved in a distinguished degree by his des- truction of the Indian settlement at Kittaning." He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1758, and accompanied Gen. John Forbes to Fort Pitt, which he commanded for several months. He was a physician at Fredericksburg, Va., 1758-75; commanded three regiments of minute men in 1775; became colonel of the 3d Virginia regiment in 1776, and was engaged in organizing the troops of Virginia. He was commissioned brigadier- general in the Continental army by congress in 1776, at the suggestion of General Washington, and commanded the flying camp. He accom- panied Wasliington in the retreat through New Jersey and led the atUick on Trenton, and the night march to Princeton, Jan. 3, 1777, where the American militia encountered three British regiments, became confused and started to re- treat, when General Mercer in rallying his broken troops had his horse shot under him and fell wounded within the enemy's lines. When re- fused quarter he defended himself with his sword until he was completely overpowered and left for dead on the field. He was attended by Maj. George Lewis and Dr. Rush under a flag of truce, removed to a farmhouse near by and nursed until he died. The St. Andrew's society of Phil- adelphia erected a monument to his memory in Laurel Hill cemetery, and congress in 1792 pro- vided for the education of his youngest son Hugh. Mercer county, Ky., and Fort Mercer,