The Mercer Oak

The Mercer Oak was named for Brigadier General Hugh Mercer, who fought and was mortally wounded in the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777. The white oak is believed to have stood here at the time of the American Revolution. Legend says Mercer was bayoneted and laid beneath this tree, refusing to leave the battle until victory was secured, but he was actually wounded just uphill behind enemy lines. After his aides recovered him, he was carried to the Thomas Clarke House, where he died nine days later. Besides the tree, this county and a nearby roadway are among the many things named in his honor. Mercer, born in Scotland in 1725, studied medicine at Aberdeen and as an assistant surgeon to the Scottish Jacobite Army was present at its defeat by the English on Culloden Moor in 1746. He settled in Pennsylvania in 1747, served the English Provincial Army in the French and Indian War, and attained the rank of colonel. After moving to Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1761, he married, purchased Washington’s boyhood farm, and practiced medicine. As the Revolution began, he was named colonel of the 3rd Virginia regiment in 1775 and in 1776 became a brigadier general under Washington. After collapsing of old age on March 3, 2000, the Mercer Oak remained a well-recognized symbol of Princeton Township, Mercer County, the New Jersey Green Acres Program, and other entities. An offspring begun in 1981 from an acorn of the Mercer Oak and donated by Louise Morse was planted next to the old stump in 2001.

Princeton, New Jersey · United States