Wesley Merritt

Wesley Merritt (June 16, 1836 – December 3, 1910) was a general in the United States Army during the American Civil War and the Spanish-American War. He is noted for distinguished service in the cavalry.

Early life
Merritt was born in New York City. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1860 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Dragoons (heavy cavalry), serving initially in Utah under John Buford. He became the adjutant for the unit when it was renamed the 2nd U.S. Cavalry.

Civil War
In 1862, Merritt was appointed captain in the 2nd Cavalry and served as an aide-de-camp to Brig. Gen. Philip St. George Cooke, who commanded the Cavalry Department of the Army of the Potomac. He served in the defenses of Washington, D.C., for the rest of 1862. In 1863, he was appointed adjutant for Maj. Gen. George Stoneman and participated in Stoneman's Raid in the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863.

In the Gettysburg Campaign, Merritt commanded the Reserve Brigade, 1st Division, Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He was slightly wounded in the Battle of Brandy Station; soon after (June 29, 1863), he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers for his "gallant and meritorious service" at Brandy Station and Upperville. Being promoted directly from captain to brigadier general was an unusual step, even for the Civil War, but Merritt shared this honor on that date with Captain Elon J. Farnsworth and Captain George Armstrong Custer.

In the initial cavalry actions of the Battle of Gettysburg, Merritt saw no action; his reserve brigade guarded the lines of communications of the Army of the Potomac. On July 3, 1863, however, he participated in the assault ordered by division commander Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick on the Confederate right flank, following Pickett's Charge. His fellow general, Elon J. Farnsworth, was killed during this futile assault against infantry troops. Merritt took over command of the 1st Division of the Cavalry Corps following the death by typhoid fever of its commander, John Buford, in December 1863. Brig. Gen. Alfred Torbert was the initial commander of the 1st Division but was gone for most of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign in 1864, so Merritt acted as commander in his place. He received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel in the regular army for his actions at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, the engagement in which Confederate cavalry commander Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart was killed.

During Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's Valley Campaigns of 1864, Merritt commanded the 1st Division, Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Shenandoah. Arriving at the opportune moment, his division routed the Confederate forces at the Third Battle of Winchester, a deed for which he received a brevet promotion to major general. He was second-in-command to Sheridan during the Appomattox Campaign and was one of several commissioners for the surrender at Appomattox Court House. He was brevetted major general in the regular army, in April 1865, for bravery at the Battle of Five Forks and the Appomattox Campaign.

In June 1865, Merritt was appointed command of Cavalry Forces of the Military Division of the Southwest, commanded by Sheridan. He led the 1st Division of Cavalry to march from Shreveport, Louisiana, to San Antonio, Texas, as part of the Union occupation forces on an arduous 33-day 600-mile march between July 9 and August 11, 1865. On January 28, 1866, Merritt was one of a number of brevetted generals mustered out of volunteer service and returned to their pre-war ranks in the regular army.

Frontier duty and West Point
After the war's end, Merritt continued to serve in the cavalry along the frontier. He was appointed lieutenant colonel of the newly raised U.S. 9th Cavalry on July 28, 1866, and in July 1867 was sent to command Fort Davis, Texas, garrisoned by six of the regiment's companies. He was made colonel of the 5th Cavalry on July 1, 1876, which he commanded in the Battle of Slim Buttes during the Indian Wars. He served on the frontier until being appointed superintendent of West Point, a post he filled from 1882 to 1887. In 1887, he was appointed a brigadier general in the regular army. He was promoted to major general in the U.S. Army in 1895. As colonel of the 5th Cavalry, Merritt was a member of the court of inquiry which first sat on January 13, 1879 presided over by Colonel John H King 9th Infantry, which was convened to consider the behaviour of Major Marcus A Reno 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn ( June 25/26 1876 ) which resulted in the death of General George Armstrong Custer and over 200 men of the 7th Cavalry.

Spanish-American War
After George Dewey defeated the Spanish navy at the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898, the U.S. began to organize ground forces to attack and capture the city of Manila. Merritt was placed in command of the VIII Corps being raised in California. In June 1898, Merritt and the last of the VIII Corps departed from San Francisco for the Philippines.

Once Merritt arrived on Manila's island of Luzon, he and Dewey made preparations for the attack on the city. The two intentionally kept Emilio Aguinaldo in the dark about the plans for the attack since neither wanted Aguinaldo's insurgents to end up in control of the city. Merritt and Dewey made arrangements with Governor General Fermin Jaudenes, commander of the Spanish garrison, to surrender the city to the U.S. only after the latter put up a token resistance. The city fell to the Americans on August 13 during the Battle of Manila, and Merritt became the military governor of the Philippines. He later advised the U.S. in the peace negotiations at the Treaty of Paris.

Family and death
General Merritt was married twice. His first wife was Caroline Warren Merritt, who died on June 12, 1893, at the age of 44. Caroline Warren Merritt is at rest in the cemetery at the United States Military Academy, at West Point. General Merritt's second wife was Laura Williams Merritt, whom he met in the late 1890s, when she was in her mid-twenties. General Merritt and Laura Williams were married on October 24, 1898.

General Merrit retired from the Army in 1900 and died from arteriosclerosis in Natural Bridge, Virginia, at the age of 74, on December 3, 1910. He is buried in the Post cemetery, United States Military Academy.