and had a very extensive practice. To the poor, he was studiously kind, often bestowing on them his professional attendance; and in his last will, he left it in special charge to his executors, not to require payment of the debts due by those in indigent circumstances.

General Mercer's brigade formed a part of the_left wing of Washington's army, in the capture of the Hessians, at Trenton, in December, 1776. The battle of Princeton, on the morning of the third of January, 1777, was commenced by general Mercer with his column, consisting of about three hundred and fifty men, near Stoney-brook. Upon hearing the firing, general Washington, in person, led on his force to the support of Mercer, with two pieces of artillery. The force engaged against him was the British 17th regiment, commanded by colonel Mawhood. After the third fire, in consequence of a charge made by the British, Mercer's corps, chiefly raw militia, fled in disorder.

General Mercer made great exertions to rally them, and was much exposed to the enemy's fire. His horse becoming restive and unmanageable, he dismounted, thinking he could then the more effectually rally his broken troops, but he was surrounded by the enemy, whom he resisted with great determination and bravery, but was overpowered. It is said that he was stabbed after he had surrendered. General Washington coming up at this juncture, changed the fortune of the day. After the battle of Princeton, general Mercer lived a week, being about fifty-five years of age. He was buried at Princeton, but the body was afterwards removed to Philadelphia, and interred in Christ church-yard, with military honours. Provision was made by congress, in 1793, for the education of his youngest son, Hugh Mercer. .. General Wilkinson, in his memoirs, in giving the particulars of the battle of Princeton, says: "But in general Mercer we lost a chief, who, for education, experience, talents, disposition, integrity and patriotism, was second to no man but the commander in chief, and was qualified to fill the higher trusts of the country. General Wilkinson, in the same work, observes, "That the evening of January 1st, 1777, was spent with general St. Clair, by several officers, of whom Mercer was one, who, in

conversation, made some remarks disapproving the ap pointment of captain William Washington to a majority in the horse, which was not relished by the company: he thus explained himself: 'We are not engaged in a war of ambition; if it had been so, I should never have accepted a commission under a man (Patrick Henry) who had never seen a day's service; we serve not for ourselves, but for our country: and every man should be content to fill the place in which he can be most useful. I know Washington to be a good captain of infantry, but I know not what sort of a major of horse he may make; and I have seen good captains make indifferent majors. For my own part, my views in this contest are confined to a single object, that is, the success of the cause, and God can witness how cheerfully I would lay down my life to secure it.""

Little did he then expect, that a few fleeting moments would have sealed the compact. His death was a most serious loss to his country, his family and friends.

MEIGS, RETURN JONATHAN, was born in Middletown, in the state of Connecticut. Immediately after the battle of Lexington, which opened the bloody drama of the revolution, he marched a company of light infantry, completely uniformed and equipped, which he had previously organized and disciplined, for the environs of Boston. He was soon appointed a major by the state of Connecticut, and marched with colonel Arnold in his tedious and suffering expedition to Canada. In the bold enterprise of storming Quebec, he commanded a battalion; and, after penetrating within the walls of the city, was made prisoner, together with captains Morgan and Dearborn, since become generals, and well distinguished in American history. In 1776, major Meigs was exchanged, and returned home. In 1777, general Washington appointed him colonel, with authority to raise a regiment. Colonel Meigs having raised a part of his regiment, marched to New Haven, to carry into execution a plan

projected for the surprisal and destruction of a part of the enemy at Sag Harbour, on Long Island, where large quantities of stores and forage had been collected for the army at New York; the account of which is given in "Marshall's Life of Washington," as follows.

"General Parsons intrusted the execution of this plan to colonel Meigs, a very gallant officer, who had accompanied Arnold in his memorable march to Quebec, and had been taken prisoner in the unsuccessful attempt made on that place by Montgomery. He embarked with about two hundred and thirty men, on board thirteen whale-boats, and proceeded along the coast to Guilford, from whence he was to cross the Sound. Here he was

detained some time by high winds and a rough sea; but on the 23d of May, about one o'clock in the afternoon, he re-embarked one hundred and seventy of his detachment, and proceeded, under convoy of two armed sloops, across the Sound, to the north division of the island near Southold. The east end of Long Island is deeply intersected by a bay, on the north side of which had been a small foraging party, against which the expedition was in part directed; but they had marched to New York two days before.

"Here, however, information was received, that the stores had not been removed from Sag Harbour, which lies in the northern division of the island, and that a small guard still remained there for their defence. The boats were immediately conveyed across the land, a distance of about fifteen miles, into the bay, where the troops re-embarked, and crossing the bay, landed within four miles of Sag Harbour, at two o'clock in the morning, which place they completely surprised, and carried with fixed bayonets. At the same time a division of the detachment secured the armed schooner and the vessels, with the forage which had been collected for the supply of the army at New York. These brigs and sloops, twelve in number, were set on fire and entirely consumed. Six of the enemy were killed, and ninety of them taken prisoners; a very few escaped under cover of the night. Colonel Meigs returned to Guilford with his prisoners; having thus completely effected the object of the expedition, without the loss of a single man, and having

moved with such uncommon celerity, as to have transported his men by land and water ninety miles in twenty-five hours.

"As a mark of their approbation of his conduct, congress directed a sword to be presented to him, and passed a resolution expressive of their high sense entertained of his merit, and of the prudence, activity and valour, displayed by himself and his party in this expedition."

In 1779, colonel Meigs commanded one of the regiments which stormed and carried Stony Point, under general Wayne.

He was one of the first settlers of the wilderness, which has since become the state of Ohio; having landed at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, with the earliest emigrants. A government for the northwestern territory had been prepared, by an ordinance of the congress of 1787. Governor St. Clair and the judges of the territory had not arrived. The emigrants were without civil laws or civil authority. Colonel Meigs drew up a concise system of regulations, which were agreed to by the emigrants, as the rule of conduct and preservation, until the proper authorities should arrive. To give these regulations publicity, a large oak, standing near the confluence of the rivers, was selected, from which the bark was cut off, of sufficient space to attach the sheet, on which the regulations were written; and they were beneficially adhered to until the civil authorities arrived. This venerable oak was, to the emigrants, more useful, and as frequently consulted, as the oracle of ancient Delphos, by its votaries.

During a long life of activity and usefulness, no man ever sustained a character more irreproachable than colonel Meigs. He was a pattern of excellence as a patriot, a philanthropist, and a Christian. In all the vicissitudes of fortune, the duties of religion were strictly observed, and its precepts strikingly exemplified. The latter part of his life was devoted to the melioration of the condition of the aborigines of the country, for which purpose he accepted the agency of the Cherokee station; and in the discharge of his duties he inspired the highest degree of confidence in that nation, by whom he was emphatically denominated "THE WHITE PATH." In all

cases they revered him as their father, and obeyed his counsel as an unerring guide.

His death is a loss to the country, and especially to that station. His remains were interred with the honours of war, amidst a concourse of sincere friends, and in the anguish of undissembled sorrow. His death was serenely happy in the assurance of Christian hope. He died on the 28th of January, 1823, at the Cherokee Agency.

MIFFLIN, THOMAS, a major-general in the American army during the revolutionary war, and governor of Pennsylvania, was born in the year 1744, of parents who were Quakers. His education was intrusted to the care of the Rev. Dr. Smith, with whom he was connected in habits of cordial intimacy and friendship, for more than forty years. Active and zealous, he engaged early in opposition to the measures of the British parliament. He was a member of the first congress in 1774. He took arms, and was among the first officers commissioned on the organization of the continental army, being appointed quarter-master-general in August, 1775. For this offence he was read out of the society of Quakers. In 1777, he was very useful in animating the militia, and enkindling the spirit which seemed to have been damped. His sanguine disposition and his activity rendered him insensible to the value of that coolness and caution, which were essential to the preservation of such an army as was then under the command of general Washington. In 1787, he was a member of the convention, which framed the constitution of the United States, and his signature is affixed to that instrument. In October, 1788, he succeeded Franklin as president of the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania, in which station he continued till October, 1790. In September, a constitution for this state was formed by a convention, in which he presided, and he was chosen the first governor. In 1794, during the insurrection in Pennsylvania, he em