Charles Fenton Mercer

 

Submitted by Alice Warner

Author: James Grant Wilson and John Fiske (ed.)

MERCER, Charles Fenton, soldier, b. in Fredericksburg, Va., 6 June 1778; d. in
Howard, near Alexandria, Va., 4 May, 1858. He was graduated at Princeton in
1797, and commissioned captain of cavalry the next year by Gen. Washington, in
anticipation of war with France, but subsequently studied law, and after tour
abroad in 1802-'3, practised his profession. he was a member of the Virginia
legislature in 1810-'17, and during the war of 1812 was aide to the governor and
in command of the defences of Norfolk, with the rank of brigadier-general. He
was chairman of the committee on finances in the legislature in 1816, and
introduced the bill for the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, of
which he became president. He was elected to congress as a Federalist in this
year, and returned till 1840, a longer period of continued service than that of
any of his contemporaries. He was an active protectionist, and an opponent of
slavery. He visited Europe in 1853 and conferred with eminent men of several
countries in the interests of abolition.

Additional Comments:
From Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography
Vol. IV Lodge-Pickens
Revised Edition
pub. 1900.