The record-union., 1898-05-29
GENERAL MERRITT'S CAREER
,
THE GALLANT NEW WORKERS
FIGHTING RECORD.
Farmer, Printer and Soldier, He is
Now to be Military Governor
in the Philippines.


the second in command of our national
army He won fame and honor as
Sheridan's chief officer in the great bat
ties of the war He was an unrelent-
ing warrior, once fighting nine battles
in ten successive days.
His military career is more or less
on record, but of his private life little
has been given to the public.
General Wesley Merritt's father, John
Willis Merritt, was a New York law
yer having an office at No 134 Mas
sau street, when the boy was born, De-
cember l, 1896, at No. 6I North Moore
street. He was one of eight brothers.
Twenty months later the law office was
at No. , Spruce street. the family hav-
ing removed to Brooklyn.
When Wesley was four years old his
father, having a large and increasing
family, abandoned law for agriculture
and bought farm at Looking Glass
Prairie" near Bellville, H., not far
from st. Louis Young Merritt attended
the school of the Christian Brothers.
Catholic institution, at Belleville. The
Merritts were not of that faith, but
they sent the boy thither because it was
good school Later he worked on
brothers raise corn and pork, for which
that section has always been famous.
MERRITT A FARMER.
Young Merritt often drove the farm
team seventeen miles to town, getting
only fifteen cents bushel for his corn.
Everything that farmer produced III
those days was cheap as dirt, and there
being little money in circulation paste
board checks circulated between mer-
chants and farmers in some localities,
and their merchandise seemed high be-
cause it took so much corn and pork to
pay for it.
Being a lawyer and a man Of liter
airy turn of mind, the boys father
aspired to do something besides rails
ing corn. He started a local evening
newspaper at Belleville called the 'Ad-
vocate," and later a weekly of the same
name at Lebanon. Both were Douglas
Democratic organs, and, like most of
the Democratic journals of that day,
were for territorial extension, the an
nexation of Texas and the settlement
of the vexed and formidable Oregon
question:" by taking possession of the
country clear to the Pacific Ocean.
Young Merritt helped his father and
brothers publish this kind of Demo-
cratic newspaper He mastered the
business of running a country newspa-
per, taking his turn in looking after
petty details, besides learning to set
type and becoming an expert printer
while but a boy.
At the age of sixteen he went to read
law in the office Of Judge Haynie in Sa-
lem. He was making rapid progress
when Governor Bissell, then a member
Of Congress, secured him a cadetship
for West Point.
Said General Merritt to a Herald
reporter yesterday: up to that time
had no idea of ever becoming a SOL
dier. My ambition was to be a good
lawyer and politician. and enter public
life. / believed that my forte lay in
the direction of discussion and public
speaking. However. when my father
pointed out the great advantages of a
West Point education, a careful consid-
Grafton of the subject in the light of
his experience and arguments con-
vinced me of his wisdom. I accepted
his views and entered West Point At
that particular time the course of study
at the Military Academy was five years.
got along very well. I did not stand
high in my class except in English: was
rather slow in mathematics. I think
was in the only full fve-year class
ever graduated from that institution.
WEST POINT CLASSMATES.
Among my classmates We're General
Horace Porter, General James H. Will
son of Illinois, now of Delaware, and
the well known historian; General John
NJ. Wilson, the present Chief of Engi-
neers; General S. E. Cushing, just re-
tired as Commissary General. Also
General Stephen D. Ramseur of South
Carolina. 1t is a singular fact that
having entered the Confederate army
he was killed by my command at Win,
chester. While he lay seriously wound
ed and dying, and very anxious to see
me, / was sent for But, being in hot
pursuit of the enemy, it was impossible
for the messenger to reach me in time.
1 hurried back to see my wounded
classmate, but he was dead before l
arrived"
General Merritt has no family. His
favorite nephew, Eaton Merritt, he is
educating in Connecticut with view
of sending him to West Point. General
Merritt was married in 1871, in Europe,
to Miss Caroline Warren of Cincinnati.
She died in 1893 at st. Paul, and was
buried at West Point, where the Gen
eral was superintendent for five years.
The Merritts originally sprang from
three brothers, who came to America
in 1900, their descendants settling in
Westchester, and from that family, it
is said all the Merritts born in this
country have descended.
OF General Merritt's military history
much has been written. mere record
of his battles, engagements and cam
paigns would fill columns of the Her
aid" 1t is summarized below. He had
many narrow escapes from death-a
notable one at the battle of Beverly
Ford in 1863, when he was attacked by
a Confederate officer and desperate
hand to hand contest followed. He was
sabered over the head, and would have
been killed but for the soft felt hat
which he wore, containing big army
pocket handkerchief. In this engage
ment he was surrounded and his troops
nearly captured. He fought with
courage and desperation that won
great victory. The newspapers of the
day were filled with his exploits in that
particular engagement, and on the
earnest recommendation of General Bu-
ford he was made Brigadier General
With Custer. Mcpherson and Sheri-
dan. Merritt was called one of the boy
Generals of the war. Graduating from
West Point but a few months before
the civil war broke out, he Joined the
Second Dragons and continuously dis
tinguished himself in the cavalry SER
vice all through the war. He was
Sheridans right hand man in the great
cn cnr,nnaicnS of the Shenandoah leading