Hiya I'm Bruce Fummey. How many American heroes fought at the Battle of Culloden?
It's the 12th of January and today I'm going to tell you about the most important one. Now
if you want to know about this guy and his exploits then this is the video for you,
if you're interested in the people, places and events in Scottish history then hit the
subscribe button at the bottom right at any time and ring the notification bell
to find out when I publish new videos. In the meantime, let me tell you a story.
I normally like to take you to places of interest to tell you my stories, and for this one it would
mean taking you to Culloden in the Highlands, Princeton in Pennsylvania and Fredericksburg,
Virginia. Obviously Covid restrictions, and let's be honest budget constraints, mean that
you're going to have to put up with me in my hoose. Now Jacobites are often characterised as
being Catholic, Highland supporters of the Stuarts, fighting against Lowland, Protestant Hanoverians.
That's an over simplification. Lord Pitsligo was quite a character, but not a
Highlander. When he raised a troop of horse from his tenantry to support Bonnie Prince Charlie,
he was a 68 year old asthmatic. He should probably take a doctor with him to overthrow King George.
Now, it just so happens that today's young hero was a fresh-faced 19 year old, who had just
qualified in medicine at Marshall College in Aberdeen.
The son of a Presbyterian Minister, yes that's right, Presbyterian! He was thrown into the maelstrom
of Jacobite politics. Now he managed to escape the disaster of a Culloden battlefield that
followed a failed night march in the spring of 1746. He then spent the summer trying
to escape the red-hot furnace of Hanoverian retribution, a fugitive during the country's
most intense, punitive manhunt, but he managed to slip onto a ship at Leith and head to the Americas ... phew!
When he arrived in the Americas he settled down as a rural doctor in Pennsylvania in 1740s, so
thankfully he was done with fighting and they all lived happily ever after.
Well until the French Indian War, so say seven years or so. As Scots,
we tend to think of Culloden in our narrow worldview of it being a struggle for the British throne,
or worse still, a Scottish/English thing. We might think of it more like our regional part
of the ongoing global conflict between European superpowers. French support for the Jacobites,
such as it was, was meant to draw British forces north to Scotland and away from mainland Europe.
Ten years later, the pawns in the ongoing global conflict between the British and the French
weren't Highland clans, but Native American tribes, and so the American British took up arms in the
French Indian War. This was Culloden on another continent. Now being a Pennsylvanian resident
with military experience, our hero enlisted with the rank of Captain, this time on the side of the
British Government. Now twice he was involved in cross-country expeditions of road building
and brutal fighting. It was to take a fort that the French called Duquesne, but you probably now
incorrectly call it Pittsburgh. Twice he was left for dead by comrades, and despite terrible injuries,
managed to tramp through dense forest. The second time, more than a hundred miles to get back to base.
If you've seen that Leo DiCaprio film, 'The Revenant', it was a bit like that, but without the
Oscar ceremony at the end. For the second assault on Fort Duquesne, our hero was under the command of a
General John Forbes, who was also a Scotsman, who'd also trained as a doctor, who'd also gone on to join
a regiment of horse, who'd also been involved in the great struggle where our hero took the side
of Bonnie Prince Charlie at Culloden, but General John Forbes fought for the British Government.
I wonder what they talked about? Anyway I made a video about General John Forbes in the beautiful
setting of Pittencrieff Park. I'll leave a link at the end. Watch it, right. You'll find out how to
properly pronounce Pittsburgh. Anyway by the end of the war, our hero had been promoted to Major
and he'd also become lifelong friends with another junior officer called George Washington. At the
end of the French Indian War, our hero moved to Fredericksburg near his new pal in Virginia and
he settled down to the life of a doctor and to raise a family, and they all lived happily ever after, as
we approached 1770s America and aww you're joking? The Americans are going to rebel aren't they?
Talking about American rebels, I'll tell you about another Scotsman who settled in Fredericksburg,
John Paul Jones. Now if you don't know about John Paul Jones, you should.
Of course if you want to know more about this hero of the American Revolution, then I know a man
who's made a really interesting video about him and it's got lovely scenic locations in Galloway
and if there's not a link at the end of this video, then I'm not a shameless promoter.
Anyway our hero was pally with John Paul Jones as well,
and once again our old Jacobite became a rebel against the British crown.
On the 10th of January 1776, our hero was appointed Colonel of one of the three colonial regiments
raised in Fredericksburg. There's actually an interesting story about how that happened.
I don't have time for it right now, but there's a link to this book in the description and I'll
tell the story in one of my extra videos for Patreon members right. Now Patreon members get
advert free videos, and they get extra stuff. You can click the white tab up there if you fancy that.
Now back to Colonial rebels. By the end of 1776, things weren't going too well for the Colonials,
New York and Rhode Island had been abandoned to the British, and forts had been lost.
Loyalist morale was on the rise as folks started to come out of the woodwork, certain that King
George had the upper hand. The Colonials had been pushed back across the Delaware River and they
were struggling for supplies; food, tents, clothing, shoes even. Morale was low and most of the men's
term of enlistment was due to run out on the 31st of December. To be honest they were probably
looking forward to going back to their farms and jobs as best they could. It was a bitter December,
and the British sat in New Jersey knowing that when the Delaware River froze at that narrow point,
they could easily cross into Pennsylvania and take Philadelphia. Even the Colonials themselves
were sure that the end of the revolution, rebellion had come. Then our hero suggested a bold plan. From
the west side of the Delaware on Christmas night 1776, the poorly clad American Colonists silently
paddled boats through the cubes of solidifying ice forming on the top of the water, and they landed on
the eastern shore. They assaulted and overwhelmed the garrison at Trenton and they captured a
thousand stands of arms, supplies and gold enough to pay the men for another period of enlistment.
This was a huge boost to morale, but now they found themselves on the east side of the
Delaware with the river behind and the whole British Army in front. Was this a bridgehead,
or a trap? Five thousand British advanced and took back the town of Trenton. It had so recently
been taken by the Colonists, who were now pushed back with large losses. The British had them where
they wanted them. With superior forces, better equipment and larger in number. It was over.
Now the British Commander decided to camp for the night and wipe out these rebels once and for all
the next morning. What would George Washington do? He retreated to the river and a local woman
said that she would lead them in a path round the British forces overnight to attack the next
morning, and so our hero who before Culloden had set off on a night march to go round the British
Army in darkness, only to run out of time as the Jacobite Army became stretched out then ordered
back to the next day's slaughter, was once more to set out in a desperate throw of the dice, not
this time a 19 year old lad just out of university, but Brigadier General in the Colonial Army.
Again the rebel army became stretched out during the night. The next morning our hero had to lead a
small vanguard of 400 men forward towards British forces. Three heavy accurate volleys from British
muskets, then are charged from far superior numbers saw the inexperienced Colonial forces break
and run, but our hero stood his ground calling to his men and encouraging them to stand.
But this time, George Washington and the main force had heard the British firing and they came forward,
so the continental army now had the larger numbers in that area, and they stopped the fleeing men in
their tracks. They regained their courage and they chased the British forces from the field.
At Culloden, our hero had fought the British Government and survived, but the cause was lost. On
the 3rd of January 1777 at the Battle of Princeton, the day was won, not only was the day won, but the
British retreated from New Jersey. The Colonialists started to believe that they could actually win,
and the French came in to ally themselves and support the American cause. This was a turning
point. One historian has said, 'It may be doubted whether so small a number of men ever employed
so short a space of time with greater and more lasting effects upon the history of the world'.
Now I'm not saying that our hero single-handedly won the American rebellion, that would be silly,
but history turns on moments, and sometimes these moments are accidents of weather,
sometimes coincidences of timing, but sometimes they're the result of one man's ingenuity, bravery
and sacrifice, and I say sacrifice, because in the time between the flight of his men
and the arrival of Washington's reinforcements, our hero, Brigadier General, Hugh Mercer stood alone.
As continental volunteers fled and British soldiers charged, he faced down several Redcoats
with sword in hand. When they offered surrender he refused and so he fought on. No quarter was
given and they struck him down with numerous rifle butts to the head and the thrust of seven
bayonets to the torso. When reinforcements did arrive, Hugh Mercer, having been left for dead
was revived but he refused to leave the field until the day was won.
He was laid against a tree as the battle concluded. That tree became a celebrated tree
in Princeton known as Mercer's Oak, situated in Mercer County, New Jersey
Hugh Mercer himself was taken to a nearby farmhouse where he was nursed
for nine days before he finally succumbed to his injuries on the 12th of January 1777.
He rebelled against the British state twice and finally won. I know if I ever get the chance to
visit Philadelphia, I'll pay my respects at his memorial at Laurel Hill Cemetery. If I'm ever
in Fredericksburg, Virginia, I'll make a stop at the monument erected to him there on Washington Avenue
and I'll salute the most celebrated American Jacobite or Jacobite American. If you want to help
make more of these videos and watch advert free videos with extras, then click the white tab up
there. You can find out about the exploits of other Scottish American heroes, ones that Hugh Mercer
knew. I've got a video about General John Forbes, you'll find it up there probably uh and one about
John Paul Jones as well. In the meantime, tha mi an dochas bum bith lath math leibh. Tiorridh an drasda.