ABSTRACT
Military hero General Hugh Mercer, a native of Scotland who died at the battle of Princeton in 1771, was placed under what was then called a Roman-style memorial after 1840 when his remains were moved from the Christ Church yard on Second Street to Laurel Hill. The Saint Andrew’s Society, a powerful Scottish organization in Philadelphia, sponsored the removal and memorialization of Mercer’s remains as a tribute to their brother. Historical figures, modeled posthumously, are necessarily recollected or reconstructed by sculptors who make memorials. William Wetmore Story’s sculpture career came about directly as a result of a commission given to him by the officials of Mount Auburn Cemetery to create a memorial to his father, the Chief Justice Joseph Story, which is in the Law Library at Harvard. The Caproni tomb is an effective memorial for person, family, and nation of origin.
