In December, at a council of war, a change of policy was agreed upon, and the unexpected and successful attack upon Trenton was the result, Mercer rendering most efficient service. The British, however, gathering their forces, made ready to retaliate; and the cause of liberty seemed lost, when Mercer boldly suggested by a night march to surprise them in their stronghold at Princeton. His advice was acted upon; but in that memorable battle—a battle that did more to secure us our independence than any other during the war—the brave General Mercer lost his life. Dismounted by the death of his horse, and separated from his command, disdaining to surrender, he met single-handed a detachment of the enemy, and was beaten to the earth by the butts of their muskets and stabbed by their bayonets. Carried by his aid from the battle-field to a neighboring house, he lingered for nine days in great agony, expiring on the 12th of January, 1777. His remains were taken to Philadelphia, where his funeral was attended by thirty thousand people. St. Andrew’s Society of that city have erected a monument to his memory at Laurel Hill Cemetery. Mercer County, Kentucky, was named in his honor.
JOSEPH REED.
Joseph Reed, born in Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in 1724, served during the French and Indian War. In 1765, he settled at Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire. When news of the battle of Lexington reached this peaceful neighborhood, he volunteered with many of his neighbors, and marched away to the camp at Cambridge, reaching there in time to participate in the battle of Bunker Hill, where with John Stark and the left wing of the army, posted behind a rail-fence, he aided in keeping the British at bay and covering the retreat of the main body from the redoubt. In 1776, he was ordered to join the reinforcements under Sullivan, marching to the relief of the American army in Canada. Reed, with many others, was attacked by small-pox, and after a long illness rose from his bed incapacitated for further active service. Congress, on the 9th of August, 1776, promoted him to the rank of brigadier-general, and he retained command for a while, hoping to regain his health and strength. Finding himself, however, unfit for duty, he retired shortly after on half-pay, and returned home nearly deaf and blind. He passed the remainder of his life in Fitzwilliam, enjoying the esteem and respect of all who knew him, and died at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, on the 13th of February, 1807.
JOHN NIXON.
John Nixon, born on the 4th of March, 1725, at Farmington, Massachusetts, entered the British army at the age of twenty, taking part in the expedition against Cape Breton and in the French and Indian War. He commanded a company of minute-men at Lexington, and a regiment at the battle of Bunker Hill. On the 9th of August, 1776, he received the appointment of brigadier-general. He was in active service until 1780, when ill health, and the effects of a severe wound received at Bunker Hill, compelled his resignation. He died on the 24th of March, 1815, at the ripe age of ninety.
JAMES CLINTON.
James Clinton, born on the 13th of August, 1736, at the family residence, in what is now Orange County, New York, received an excellent education under the supervision of his father, paying much attention to the exact sciences, and early evincing that taste for military enterprise which he inherited from his English ancestors. In 1756, he received the appointment of ensign in the militia, and remaining in the army after the peace of 1763, steadily rose by promotion to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. At the close of the French and Indian War, he married Miss Mary de Witt, a lady of great personal attractions and a descendant of an old Holland family. In June, 1775, renouncing his allegiance to Great Britain, he was appointed colonel of the Third New York Regiment, and joined Montgomery in the expedition against Canada. August 9, 1776, he was raised to the rank of brigadier-general, and served to the close of the war, faithfully discharging the duties of the several stations he was called upon to fill. With his brother, Gov. George Clinton, he conducted the defence of Fort Clinton in October, 1777, until overpowered by vastly superior numbers, and then escaped, though severely wounded, by sliding down a precipice of a hundred feet to a shallow stream. Wading for some distance up the stream, he threw his pursuers off the scent. In 1779, having joined General Sullivan in an expedition against the Indians, he materially aided by a clever engineering feat in the rapid transportation of the troops. Though stationed during most of the war in command of the Northern Department at Albany, he took part during the siege of Yorktown and the surrender of Cornwallis. After the evacuation of the city of New York by the British, he took leave of his commander-in-chief and retired to his home in Orange County. Subsequently he held various civil positions of trust and responsibility, and died on the 22d of September, 1812, at his residence in his native State.