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 .