Many of those who served with George Washington in the French and Indian War also served during the Revolutionary War. Some of his former comrades, like Thomas Gage, served the British in both conflicts and were Washington’s enemies in the Revolution. Others, Horatio Gates and Adam Stephen for instance, later served with Washington against the British. Hugh Mercer enjoyed a personal relationship that started in the French and Indian War, lasted throughout the time between the two conflicts, and ended in battle alongside Washington in the Revolution.
Born in Scotland in 1726, Mercer attended Aberdeen University and became a doctor. Supporting his native land, he was forced to flee after the Battle of Culloden ended the Jacobite rising of 1745; he sailed to America in 1747. He first lived in Pennsylvania and practiced medicine on the fringe of the settlements. During the French and Indian War, Mercer helped treat the survivors of Edward Braddock’s debacle along the Monongahela River. Inspired by the sight of the wounded, Mercer joined the Crown’s forces, ironically the enemy he had fought in Scotland.
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