Mercer Street is a street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs north to south through Greenwich Village and SoHo neighborhoods, from East 8th Street past West Houston Street to Canal Street. The street was previously called First Street and Clermont Street, but was renamed in 1799 for Hugh Mercer, a Scottish-American brigadier general who died at the Battle of Princeton, which came about due to his advice to George Washington to march on Princeton.