The Portland daily press., 1898-12-17
NERRITT'S RISE.
One Of the Brilliant Leaders Of the
Great Conflict.
FROM CAPTAIN TO GENERAL In A
SINGLE DAY.
The Military History of the Man Who
May Govern the Philippines Under
American Rule.

NAY UOVerh INC fhAlppAnts CiAuor
American Rule.
| Seven breyets and promotions. all for
gallant and meritorious service in the
field, all won insthe space of two years,
is the unique record established by Major
| General Wesley Merritt, soon to be, in all
probability, the United States military
governor in the Philippines, Six times
he was rewarded thus for bravery in par
| ticular engagements, and once for his SER
vice during an entire campaign. In 1860,
| at the age of %, he graduated from West
Point. He emerged from the war Ma
jor General at ~.
"It was in the battle OF Beverly Ford
that Merritt made his mark, )" says Gen.
T. F. Rodenbough, who served with him
through most of the rebellion. He set it
| high up, too. for in that one day he
| jumped from the rank Of captain, acting
as colonel, to the position of Brigadier
General. ard the command of the regular
brigade, Familiarity known as the Old
Guard.
I'm the spring of 1868 the Union caval-
ry, which had been split up into small
divisions during the earlier part of the
war, was reorganized, and General Pleas
Army of the Potomac. Merritt was as
signed to the Second cavalry, with the
rank of captain. General Pleasanton had
said that as soon as he found men of the
right mettle he desired to have some of
tho younger officers promoted to be Brig
adiers. Most OF the officers holding that
rank were old timers who had, perhaps,
lost some of the force and vigor essential
to a successful cavalry leader spleasanton
relied upon the first big engagement to
show him the men he needed.
cat the beginning of June it was re-
ported that Lee was getting ready to
move north, and force of 10000 cavalry
was sent out to see if they could locate
any large bodies of Confederate troops,
with view to determining the truth of
this report. In the course of our expedi-
ton we ran into some $4,000 Confederate
cavalry, under sJeb' Stuart. not far from
Culpepper. Fording the Rappahannock
in the early morning. we attacked the
rebels in camp.
MERRITT A BEVERLY FORD.
ssThe ensuing engagement, known as
the battle of Beverly Ford, is recognized
by military writers as the most conspicu-
GUS cavalry engagement of the war. The
numb ers on each side were nearly equal.
IL 81 70, tod
operations, and the fighting lasted all
day, from 5 in the morning until nearly
at night.
Merritt and being in the same COM
mand, I remember his course In this bat
tie well. For time we were exposed to
and got good share of their fire, which,
of course, we could not return. Merritt
rode up and down, saying nothing, but
evidently chatting at being unable TO get
into the fight. After what seemed a
mighty long time, the order came to adj
vance against the enemy. With a cheer,
the regiment dashed down the hill, Mer-
rift at its head. The shock of the charge
carried us in among the Confederates,
who were thrown into confusion. and the
two commands were pretty well mixed
up. Fifteen minutes before Merritt had
been the careful commander, looking out
for his men, but now all his fighting
blood was up. and he cut and slashed
with the best Of his followers. he had
just emptied his revolver when he saw a
Confederate officer riding at one of. his
men Merritt rushed forward. bringing
his saher to point, and called out, Colo
mel, you are my prisoner
"The only answer he got was slashing
swing at his head from the Confederate
saber. Merritt parted the blow and
started in to make it warm for that
officer. but Lieutenant Quirk, the only
one of his own men near him, seeing
that they had become.separatad from the
rest of the command, and were surround
ed, fairly dragged the captain away, and
they cut their way through the crowd
that surrounded them and got back to
their own command. Merritt believed
that the Confederate officer with whom
he had the encounter was Colonel (later
GENERALLY Wade Hampton.
MERRITT AND CUSTER WIN
GLORY.
'tThere were two young officers on the
Union side who won great glory that day