The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777
| The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777 | |
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| Artist | John Trumbull |
| Year | c. 1787–c. 1831 |
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 51.1 cm × 75.9 cm (20.125 in × 29.875 in) |
| Location | Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut |
The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777 is the title of an oil painting by the American artist John Trumbull depicting the death of the American General Hugh Mercer at the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777 during the American Revolutionary War. The painting was Trumbull’s first depiction of an American victory. It is one of a series of historical paintings on the war, which also includes the Declaration of Independence and The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776.
The artist expressed his great admiration for General George Washington in this painting as he wrote in the catalogue for his exhibited works at Yale University in 1835:
Thus, in the short space of nine days, an extensive country, an entire State, was wrested from the hands of a victorious enemy, superior in numbers, in arms and in discipline, by the wisdom, activity and energy of one great mind.
It was a personal favorite of Trumbull himself. When asked by Benjamin Silliman which paintings he would save from destruction in the Trumbull Gallery at Yale, he said this one.
Trumbull used the General's son, Hugh Jr., as a model for the painting.
The picture displays several different events of the battle as if they occurred simultaneously.
At the center, American General Hugh Mercer, with his dead horse beneath him, is shown mortally wounded. Mercer was commanding the leading division of the Continental Army when attacked by British Colonel Charles Mawhood near Princeton, New Jersey. Mercer's horse was killed and he was attacked by two grenadiers. The British were in control of the battle at this moment. Mercer would be treated for his wounds by Dr. Benjamin Rush the next day, January 4, but died on January 12 as a result, Dr. Rush believed, of a concussion caused by a musket butt to the head
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