The command disaster on Oak Hill that led to the infamous Iverson’s Pits cost the Army of Northern Virginia some of its most seasoned, hard-fighting men. Many of these had fought at Chancellorsville and a half-dozen other engagements, which surely made their destruction even more terrible for Robert E. Lee’s army. Not only were they lost, but they were wasted without inflicting much damage in return. One of the most prominent of those killed was Captain Oliver Evans Mercer.

Family Background

Oliver Evans Mercer was born January 23, 1842, in Brunswick County, North Carolina, into a well-established planter family. He was the eldest son of John W. Mercer (1812–1863) and Anna Jane (Evans) Mercer (1822–1912). The Mercer family’s roots in the region ran deep: Oliver’s paternal grandfather, Redmond Mercer, had moved from Robeson County to Brunswick and established a farm near Town Creek. On Oliver’s maternal side, the Evans family were prominent planters. His maternal grandfather, Daniel B. Evans, owned Shrub Hill Plantation on Town Creek near Winnabow. The Evans plantation, founded in the late 18th century by Oliver’s immigrant great-grandfather John B. Evans and his wife Ann Gause, remained in the family for generations. Like many prosperous Coastal Carolina landowners, the Evans and Mercer families were slaveholders who profited from rice cultivation and the naval stores industry (harvesting turpentine and tar from longleaf pines) before the Civil War. This means Oliver grew up in a household that, by Southern standards, was relatively privileged – a farming estate with enslaved laborers and deep local influence.

John W. Mercer and Anna Jane Evans married in 1841, uniting two influential families of Brunswick County. The young couple initially lived on an estate at Bell Swamp near Town Creek, where Oliver and his next sibling were born. They later moved to a homestead in the Bolivia area, and by the late 1850s they had settled at a place called New Supply on the Lockwood Folly River (the community now known simply as Supply). This final Mercer home was a farm or plantation outpost in the southern part of the county. The Mercers’ relocation within Brunswick County suggests the family managed multiple tracts of land, consistent with a planter lifestyle. Census and local records indicate that John W. Mercer was a farmer/planter; like his Evans in-laws, he enslaved African Americans to work his farms. It’s likely that Oliver’s upbringing straddled both his father’s and mother’s properties, exposing him to the operations of antebellum plantation life.

The Mercer-Evans family was socially prominent in Brunswick County. Oliver’s maternal uncle, Henry C. Evans (born 1832), for example, became a successful shoe merchant in Wilmington after the war. In fact, Henry Evans built a business (Mercer & Evans) with one of Oliver’s younger brothers in the postwar years, reflecting the family’s adaptation from planter life to commercial enterprise.

The Mercers were also community leaders: in the 1870s–80s, the local post office at “Brunswick” (in the Supply area) was run first by a family friend, a German immigrant named Henry Addix, and later by Oliver’s sister Sophia Mercer, one of the first women to serve as a postmaster in the county. Family accounts describe Henry Addix as a “young German” who came to assist the widowed Anna Mercer in managing the farm and business after the Civil War. He lived on the Mercer property, became the local postmaster in 1878, and remained a trusted partner until his death in 1893. This collaboration helped Anna Jane Mercer successfully transition the plantation through the hardships of Reconstruction – an era that saw the abolition of slavery force plantation families to hire labor and diversify their operations. Indeed, the Mercer farm likely shifted to small-scale market farming and timber (naval stores) production; family lore notes that Anna Jane ran the business shrewdly, gathering resources like lumber, turpentine, and even seasonal holly greens to sell for income. Such details illustrate that Oliver Mercer’s family, beyond their tragic Civil War loss, were resilient and resourceful, maintaining a measure of prominence in local affairs and commerce well into the late 19th century.

A Young Officer in the Civil War

When North Carolina seceded in 1861, Oliver E. Mercer was a college-aged man who quickly volunteered to defend his state. In June 1861, at age 19, he enlisted in the Confederate Army and was elected a junior officer (a second lieutenant) in Company G, 20th North Carolina Infantry. The 20th North Carolina Regiment was raised in part from Brunswick County men, and it initially served guarding the Carolina coast at Fort Caswell and Fort Johnson at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. Lt. Mercer spent the first year of the war garrisoning those coastal defenses alongside his company. In mid-1862, the 20th North Carolina was ordered to Virginia as part of Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson Jr.’s brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia. Oliver saw his first major combat in the Seven Days Battles and the Second Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) that summer. Amid these campaigns, Mercer proved himself a capable and brave young officer. He was promoted to Captain in spring 1863, taking command of Company G just one month before Gettysburg.

Then-Lieutenant Mercer and the 20th North Carolina fought under Iverson’s command at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863 – a smashing Confederate victory. In a letter home after Jackson’s famous flank attack at Chancellorsville, Mercer exulted in how thoroughly they routed the Union XI Corps. “We poured it into them and they to us for a short while,” he wrote, “but soon we charged them and they fled like dogs leaving everything behind – knapsacks, trunks, arms… fat beeves already skinned.” The vivid imagery in Mercer’s account (noting the fresh beef and gear the hungry Confederates captured) shows his confidence and aggressive spirit during that victorious engagement. Little did he know that less than two months later, he would meet a far grimmer fate on a field in Pennsylvania.

In late June 1863, the Army of Northern Virginia marched north into Pennsylvania, and Iverson’s North Carolina brigade – including Mercer’s 20th NC – arrived at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. That afternoon, General Iverson ordered about 1,350 North Carolinians (from the 5th, 12th, 20th, and 23rd NC regiments) to advance across an open field toward a ridge west of the townflickr.com. Captain Mercer led his company forward in this assault. Unbeknownst to Iverson or his men, hundreds of veteran Union infantry were lying in wait behind a low stone wall on Oak Ridge. As the Tarheels came within 50–100 yards, a devastating point-blank volley erupted. A sheet of Union gunfire mowed down Iverson’s brigade in neat lines “as if on parade ground,” killing or wounding nearly 900 North Carolinians in minutes. It was one of the most ghastly ambushes of the war – later known as the tragedy of Iverson’s Pits. Captain Oliver E. Mercer was struck in the head and killed instantly while bravely “leading and cheering his men” in the charge. He was 21 years old.

Mercer’s commanding colonel, knowing the attack had failed disastrously, permitted surviving men to display white handkerchiefs and surrender rather than be slaughtered. Iverson, who remained to the rear during the charge, initially cursed his troops as “cowards” when he saw so many prone on the field – not realizing most were dead or grievously wounded. By battle’s end, Iverson was emotionally shattered by the loss of his brigade and was soon relieved of combat command.

For the Mercer family, the Battle of Gettysburg brought irreversible tragedy. John W. Mercer and Anna Jane Mercer had already sent two sons (Oliver and his next brother Charles) to war; now their first-born was gone. Back home in Brunswick County, news of Oliver’s death likely arrived weeks later. His father John W. Mercer also died just two months after Gettysburg, on September 12, 1863. Family sources suggest John was ill (possibly stricken by fever or the shock of his son’s fate) and died at age 51. Anna Jane Mercer was left a widow with nine surviving children to care for, the youngest (baby Florence) only a few months old.

Oliver Mercer’s remains were never recovered from the Gettysburg battlefield. Like many Confederate dead in Iverson’s assault, he was probably buried in a shallow mass grave on Oak Ridge. Years later, his grieving mother placed a memorial tombstone for him in the Mercer family cemetery near Bolivia, NC. The inscription notes his birth and that he was “Killed in battle of Gettysburg July 1, 1863.” It stands next to his father’s grave, a cenotaph honoring a son whose “grave has never been found.” To this day, Captain Mercer’s name is also listed among North Carolina’s fallen at Gettysburg, commemorated for the ultimate sacrifice he made as part of Iverson’s doomed charge.

Aftermath: The Mercer Siblings and Family Legacy

Despite the devastating losses of 1863, the Mercer family endured and adapted in the postwar era. Anna Jane Evans Mercer proved to be a formidable matriarch. She never remarried and lived to the age of 90, passing away in 1912. Anna had to navigate the Reconstruction economy and raise her large family without her husband or eldest son. As mentioned, she received crucial help from family friend Henry Addix in running the farm and even got involved with the local postal service. Under her management, the family’s holdings survived the transition from slave labor to free labor. In 1887, Anna’s daughter Sophia formally took over as postmistress at the little Supply post office, a position she held for several years. Neighbors later recalled that “Grandmother Mercer” was a shrewd businesswoman, successfully keeping the plantation (and later, sawmill/turpentine operations) profitable well into the late 19th century.

All nine of Oliver’s siblings grew to adulthood, and their lives illustrate how a Southern planter family reinvented itself after the Civil War:

• Sarah Elizabeth Mercer (1843–1888): Oliver’s immediate younger sister married Edward Ward Taylor in 1874. Edward was from a prominent Onslow County family, and the couple settled at Shrub Hill, the Evans family plantation near Town Creek, which Sarah inherited or purchased from her relatives. There, at the old plantation homestead, Sarah and her husband ran a farm and raised five children. The Taylors’ residence at Shrub Hill kept the ancestral property in family hands. Sarah died relatively young in 1888, but her children carried on the Evans-Mercer lineage; one son, John Mercer Taylor, even bore the combined family names.
• Charles Owen Mercer (1845–1902): Oliver’s next brother was only 17 when the war ended, but he did serve as a late-war Confederate soldier (family records and veterans’ rosters list him as a Civil War veteran). Charles survived the conflict and in 1877 married Nolie Wooten of Bladen County. He moved north into Bladen County, NC, where he became a farmer and raised a family. Charles and Nolie had several children, including a son pointedly named Henry Addix Mercer (born 1894) in honor of the German friend who had meant so much to the Mercers. Charles Owen Mercer died in 1902 and is buried at Mount Horeb Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Bladen County. Through Charles’s line, many Mercers continued to live in North Carolina; notably, photographs from the 1890s show four generations together – with the elderly Anna Jane Mercer holding one of Charles’s infants – a testament to the family continuity after the war.

• Mary Caroline “Carrie” Mercer (1848–1900): In 1874, Mary Caroline married Micajah Coke Reeves, a veteran and merchant from Surry County, NC. She relocated to Mount Airy in the western Piedmont, far from her coastal upbringing. Micajah Reeves was a man of some means (he lived to 1921 and became a respected elder in Surry County), and together they had several children. One son was tellingly named Charles Mercer Reeves, carrying his mother’s maiden name. Mary Caroline died in 1900, but her children by Micajah became part of the Reeves family network in northwestern North Carolina. This marriage illustrates how the Mercer offspring spread out and integrated into communities beyond Brunswick – even across the state – after the collapse of the plantation economy.
• Sophia Jane Mercer (1850–1904): Sophia never had children, but she led an interesting life of independence and service. As noted, she was appointed postmistress of Supply in 1887, succeeding Henry Addix in that role. Managing a postal station was a significant responsibility for a woman of that era, suggesting Sophia was educated and trusted locally. At nearly 40 years old, she married Edward Taylor (likely a relative of her sister Sarah’s husband) in 1890. The couple resided in Brunswick County, though they had no offspring. Sophia passed away in 1904. Her headstone (she is buried in the family cemetery or a local churchyard) notes her devotion to family. Through her civic role as postmistress and her late marriage, Sophia exemplified the changing opportunities for women in the Reconstruction South.
• Daniel Fulton Mercer (1852–1878): Daniel was only a boy during the Civil War and came of age in its aftermath. He did not marry. Tragically, he died at just 26 years old in 1878. Family records do not state the cause, but diseases like tuberculosis or typhoid were common. Daniel Fulton Mercer is buried beside his father and Oliver’s memorial at Concord Methodist Cemetery in Brunswick County. His epitaph identifies him as a “son of John Mercer and Anna Jane Evans,” a reminder of the family’s losses even after the war’s end.
• John Bascom Mercer (1855–1913): Perhaps the most prominent of Oliver’s surviving brothers, John Bascom took a very different path – into business and urban life. As a young man in the 1870s, John moved to the port city of Wilmington and joined his uncle Henry C. Evans in the shoe trade. Together they founded Mercer & Evans, a footwear company, and became well-known merchants in Wilmington’s downtown. John Bascom Mercer was described as a “respected shoe merchant” who prospered in the late 19th-century boom of the city. In 1906 he and his wife Mary Lily (née Lilly, 1869–1935) acquired and expanded a historic cottage in Wilmington – today known as the Evans-Mercer House – which had originally been built by his uncle Henry Evans. This beautiful home stands as a physical legacy of the Mercer/Evans family in Wilmington. John and Mary Lily had children (one of whom was named James Henry Mercer, perhaps honoring both the Mercer and Henry/Addix heritage), and their descendants remained in the area. By transitioning from planter’s son to a city entrepreneur, John Bascom Mercer demonstrated the family’s ability to reinvent itself. At the time of his death in 1913, he was regarded as a pillar of the Wilmington business community.
• Emma Judson Mercer (1857–1945): Emma, born just before the Civil War, lived through the entire tumultuous era and well into the 20th century. In 1878 she married Henry Fulton Walker, a local Brunswick County man. Unfortunately, Henry died in 1883, only five years into the marriage. Emma was left a young widow at age 26. It appears she did not remarry and had no surviving children. Instead, “Miss Emma” became a beloved aunt and figure in the extended Mercer family. She was active in her church and community for decades and was known for her sharp mind and memories of antebellum times. Emma Judson Mercer lived to the remarkable age of 88, passing away in 1945 – nearly 80 years after her brother Oliver’s death. With her, the last direct witness to the Mercer siblings’ Civil War youth was gone.
• William Henry “Little Pompey” Mercer (1859–1860): William was a baby nicknamed “Little Pompey,” born in 1859. Sadly, he died in infancy in March 1860. His grave is marked alongside his siblings’. The unusual nickname “Pompey” was possibly a term of affection or reference to an enslaved nurse (Pompey was a common name among enslaved men, suggesting the family may have named the child playfully after a servant). Little Pompey’s brief life is a poignant footnote reflecting the high infant mortality of the era, even in well-to-do families.
• Florence Caroline “Florrie” Mercer (1863–1896): The youngest Mercer child, Florence was born March 6, 1863, literally in the middle of the Civil War while her father and brother were away. She was an infant when Oliver died and her father passed. Growing up, Florence was doted upon by her mother and elder siblings. In 1882, she made a prominent marriage to Bryan Winslow Newkirk, a member of another established North Carolina family. The Newkirks were influential in Duplin and New Hanover counties (one of Bryan’s relatives, John Newkirk, served with distinction in World War II, and the family name appears often in state history). Florence and Bryan settled in the Wilmington area. They had several children, linking the Mercer bloodline into the Newkirk family tree. Unfortunately, Florence died at only 33 years old in 1896. However, her marriage forged a lasting alliance between two notable North Carolina lineages. A genealogy compiled in the 1950s by a Newkirk descendant fondly included Florence Mercer Newkirk as “a woman of bright and amiable character,” indicating the high regard in which she was held. Today, numerous Newkirk descendants can trace their ancestry back to Florence and thereby to the Mercer and Evans clans.

Conclusion

Captain Oliver Evans Mercer’s story is at once heroic and tragic – a promising young officer cut down in one of the Civil War’s most infamous debacles. Yet his legacy lives on through the rich history of his family. The Mercers and Evanses were indeed planters and slaveholders in the antebellum period, owning estates like Shrub Hill and participating in the socio-economic elite of coastal North Carolina. They endured the war’s upheavals and, in its aftermath, many transitioned to new roles: some, like John Bascom, became prominent in business, while others, like Sophia, took on civic responsibilities. None of Oliver’s immediate siblings achieved political office or great fame, but collectively they rebuilt respectable lives – as farmers, merchants, postmasters, and community leaders – helping to shape their corners of North Carolina during Reconstruction and beyond.

Oliver’s mother, Anna Jane, ensured that his memory was not forgotten: she had his name engraved on a tombstone at the family plot in Brunswick County, where she could visit and mourn her fallen son. She also preserved his wartime letters, some of which were later published by the family in a genealogy, offering a precious glimpse of Oliver’s personality and patriotism. In those letters, Oliver comes across as courageous and devout, proud of his North Carolina brigade and confident in their cause up until his final days. One letter from early 1863, for example, shows him thanking God for victory and describing how the Yankees “fled like chaff before the wind” when faced with Confederate steel. Such words, brimming with youthful bravado, make it all the more poignant that he himself would fall in battle shortly thereafter.

Today, Captain Oliver E. Mercer’s sacrifice is remembered at Gettysburg and in Brunswick County, where the Mercer family’s influence can still be felt. The old Mercer-Evans homeplaces – the Shrub Hill Plantation site and the Mercer family cemetery – are quiet historical landmarks. The Ev-Henwood Nature Preserve near Winnabow encompasses part of the Evans family’s former lands, preserving the forests and fields where Oliver’s ancestors once farmed. And the Evans-Mercer House in Wilmington, built by Oliver’s uncle and expanded by his brother, stands as a reminder of how this family persisted and thrived even after the Civil War.

In sum, Oliver Evans Mercer’s life was short but emblematic of a generation of Southern youth who went to war for “home and country,” and whose families had to reinvent their identities in a world without slavery. His genealogy reveals a tapestry of planter aristocracy and adaptation: from slaveholding patriarchs to entrepreneurial city merchants, from a Confederate captain’s doomed charge to a family that endured for decades thereafter. The Mercer siblings’ postwar achievements – modest in scale but significant in context – underscore that while Oliver Mercer himself perished in the “disastrous attack” ordered by Iverson, his bloodline and heritage carried forward, weaving into the broader fabric of North Carolina’s history. The story of this fallen young captain and his kin is thus a rich narrative of loss, survival, and legacy in the American South.