USA > Maine > Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume I > Part 43
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General John P. Hawkins, division commander, of the same assault, says: "In the assault of Fort Blakely his regiment hore a conspicuous part, and was the first of all the regiments, white or hlack, to enter the enemy's works."
For his volunteer service he was made a brevet lieu- tenant-colonel for gallantry at Antietam, brevet colonel for conspicuous gallantry in the assault of Fort Blakely, Alabama, and also awarded the Congressional medal of honor "for conspicuous gallantry in the assault and cap- ture of Fort Blakely, Alabama, voluntarily leading his regiment over the enemy's works in advance of orders, and at his own request."
Appointed major in the regular army, he won further distinction as commander in the Apache country, southern New Mexico. for which he was highly commended hy Brevet Major-General G. W. Getty. Then followed a tour of eight years on the lower Rio Grande, in Texas. Of this service we quote as follows from an official letter to General Sherman by Major-General Ord, the depart- ment commander :
"MONTEREY, MEXICO, September 30, 1882.
"GENERAL : During the revolutionary struggles of 1876 on the Rio Grande frontier, and when, on account of the delicate and important questions likely to arise with the people and authorities of the vicinity across the river, it hecame necessary to select an officer of discretion and energy to command the small garrison at the town of La- redo. I selected Major, now Lieutenant-Colonel, H. C. Merriam. Second Infantry, relieving the then commander. "By reference to my subsequent annual report, you will see that serious and threatening difficulties did arise at the town of Nuevo Laredo, on the Mexican side of the
river, and that Major Merriam acted with energy and judgment, proving that I had not mistaken his fitness, for he proved equal to every emergency.
"Should Congress authorize hrevets for the display of ability and for energy under trying circumstances, I hope the claims of Lieutenant-Colonel Merriam will receive due consideration, for, after all, it is only a slight reward, and more than deserved in his case, for such services.
"I am. General, with great respect. your obedient servant, "E. O. C. ORD,
"Major-General, retired.
"General W. T. Sherman,
"Commanding U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.
"(Through General R. C. Drum, Adjutant-General, U. S. Army. )"
Theu followed eight years of arduous and most ef- ficient service on the northern frontiers of Washington and Idaho, including Indian campaigns and important admin- istrative control of the various Indian trihes of that re- gion, resulting in their collection upon reservations. For this service General Howard accorded high official com- mendation.
Following the foregoing he served for twelve years as colonel of the Seventh United States Infantry in the De- partments of the Platte, the Missouri, and the Colorado, winning the highest official commendations of all his commanders, viz. : Generals Brooke, Merritt, Wheaton, McCook, Miles and Schofield, all of whose reports have heen examined hy the committee.
In 1897 he was made a Brigadier-General, and suc- cessfully performed difficult and important service, in- augurating relief and exploring expeditions in Alaska. while commanding Department of the Columbia, until the outhreak of the Spanish war, in 1898, when he ap- pealed in vain for active field service. He was made a major-general of volunteers, and assigned to command the entire Pacific coast, with headquarters in San Francisco. In this capacity the duty of organizing and forwarding the Philippine expedition came under his supervision and responsibility. For this work he won the official com- mendation of General Merritt, commander in the Philip- piues, and the personal commendation of President Mc- Kinley.
During the last three years of his active service he commanded the Department of the Colorado, and nearly all of that time the Department of the Missouri-fairly a Major-General's command.
Finally, the committee is assured that it was the in- tention of President Mckinley to promote General Mer- riam to the grade of Major-General hefore his retire- ment through the expected voluntary retirement of an- other officer. Of this intention President Mckinley of- ficially assured General Merriam, as well as others, among whom are Senator Frye, General J. C. Bates, Sec- retary Root, General Corhin and General MacArthur- the latter only a few days hefore the assassination.
The failure of the promised promotion resulted from the fact that the expected voluntary retirement of an- other officer did not take place; hence there was no va- cancy. For this, and for the high appreciation of Gen- eral Merriam hy the War Department and the President, attention is respectfully invited to the following indorse- ment of the honorable Secretary of War :
"WAR DEPARTMENT, "WASHINGTON, D. C., December 16, 1902.
"Respectfully returned to the chairman Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives, inviting at- tention to the preceding indorsement hereon and accom- panying inclosure therein referred to.
"General Merriam was a fine officer, and the President would have heen glad to promote him before his retire- ment if there had heen a vacancy. I do not douht that he would he glad to do so now if the Cougress would grant the necessary authority.
"ELIHU ROOT, Secretary of War."
In view of all the facts set forth, it is the unanimous recommendation of this committee that this bill should pass as an act of justice to a most ahle, gallant and meritorious officer of long and distinguished service.
The following act passed by unanimous vote of both houses of Congress, February 2, 1903 :
An Act to authorize the President to appoint Brigadier- Gencral H. C. Merriam to the grade of major-general in the United States Army and place him on the retired list.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress as- semhled, That the President he, and he is herehy au- thorized to appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate, Brigadier-General H. C. Merriam to the grade of major-general in the United States Army and place him on the retired list.
Approved, February 5, 1903.
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After retirement he lived for a time at Wayne, Pennsylvania, and then established a comfortable home near the city of Portland, Maine, with a winter residence in Washing- ton.
General Merriam is the inventor and pa- tentee of the Merriam Infantry Pack, to the perfection of which he devoted much study, time and experiment. The device has won most flattering success in this country and also in Europe, and won for him a gold medal award from the French Academy of Inventors. He also is the fortunate possessor of three elegant swords-one presented him by mem- bers of his first command, Company H, Twen- tieth Maine Volunteer Infantry ; one by the American merchants of Nuevo Laredo, Mex- ico, as an appreciation of his services in the protection of their lives and property, in 1876; and the third by the officers of the Seventh Regiment, on his promotion to the rank of brigadier-general in 1897, in recognition of his twelve years of service as commander of that famous body of fighters. General Mer- riam is a member of the Loyal Legion, the Society of Foreign Wars, the Society of the Army of the Potomac, and the American In- stitute of Civics.
General Merriam married (first) January 16, 1866, Lucy Jane, daughter of Eleazer and Jane (Clark) Getchell, of Waterville, Maine. She was drowned in a cloudburst April 24, 1870, on the Staked Plains of Texas, and with her also perished her only child. He married (second) in 1874, Una, daughter of John and Caroline Lucille (Lynch) MacPherson-Mac- neil, of Kingston, Jamaica. She was born September 29, 1848. General Merriam's chil- dren : 1. Mamie Eugenie, born at Fort Bay- ard, New Mexico, March, 1868, died with her mother, April 24, 1870. 2. Carrie Augusta, born at Fort Brown, Texas, August 2, 1875; married at Denver, Colorado, April 5, 1899, George Bart Berger, and had Merriam Ber- ger, born December 22, 1900; Margaret Ber- ger, April 1, 1902; George Berger, November 20, 1905. 3. Captain Henry MacPherson, born at Houlton, Maine, October 12, 1877; educated at Stanford University, California, at the United States School of Artillery, and the Submarine Mines; promoted captain United States Artillery, August 27, 1903 ; served in the Spanish, Philippine and China campaigns ; married, at Denver, Colorado, December 7, 1901, Alice Lishman. 4. Cyrus Lincoln, born at Vancouver, Washington, December 16, 1879; graduated from Stanford University, J903; now superintendent of a large sugar
and India rubber plantation in southern Mex- ico. 5. Charles Bailey, born at Fort Spokane, Washington, August 27, 1885; educated at University of Maine; now in the real estate business at Spokane, Washington. 6. Kather- ine Maude, born at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, April 29, 1888.
(For ancestry see preceding sketch.)
Major Lewis Merriam Jr.,
MERRIAM son of Lewis and Mary Ann (Foss) Merriam, and brother of General Henry C. Merriam, was born at the old Merriam homestead at Houlton, Aroos- took county, Maine, April 4, 1843. He lived on the farm until 1853, and at the Merriam sawmill until 1862. He enlisted for civil war service as private August 5, 1862, and was mustered into the United States service as sergeant in Company H, Twentieth Regiment Maine Volunteers, at Portland, and during the war period made a most brilliant record, serv- ing in all the campaigns, battles and skir- mishes of that regiment from the battle of An- tietam, September 17, 1862, to the battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, except the battle of Fredericksburg, when he was sick in Har- wood Hospital, in Washington, D. C.
In the first charge of the Fifth Corps at the battle of the Wilderness, on May 5, 1864, he was captured by the enemy and taken to Andersonville prison, Georgia. This incident closed his career with that famous regiment whose name was immortalized when, under the command of the gallant Chamberlain, it brilliantly seized and successfully held, against a large superior force of the enemy, historic Little Round Top, the key to the whole posi- tion of the Federal army, at the battle of Gettysburg. As the fame of this regiment be- longs to each and every member of its organ- ization at that time, a part is due this soldier, who was a sergeant in Company H, the left centre company, in that sanguinary conflict. His clothes were cut or pierced by the enemy's bullets three times within about as many min- utes, and the beloved Steele, gallant Lathrop, his bunkmate, and brave, loyal Buck-all ser- geants of this company-received their death wounds and lay on the battlefield, a few feet from him, giving up their life blood on the altar of their country. His last shot was fired when the muzzle of his rifle was almost against the breasts of the enemy, and when the command "Bayonets !" rang out along the line, he had no time to fix bayonet, but charged with clubbed rifle, as did many others of the command. This charge resulted in a
Lewis Merriam
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complete victory and the capture of many prisoners, but at a fearful sacrifice, as nearly one-half of the command lay dead or disabled on the field.
His experiences as a prisoner were most harrowing. On arriving at Andersonville he was placed in charge of one hundred fellow prisoners, for whom he drew rations in bulk and issued to them individually. He organized a company of the ten thousand prisoners for an effort to undermine the stockade and capture the prison guard and make their escape, but they were betrayed by some of their own men for an extra ration of cornmeal. He was a member of the police organized inside the stockade to break up a band of robbers and murderers among the prisoners, which re- sulted in the arrest of about twenty of the hardest cases in the prison. They were turned over to the prison authorities, tried for mur- der, and six were convicted and sentenced to be hanged. They were turned over to the police in the stockade, who erected a gallows and duly executed the sentence.
In October, 1864, he was one of the pris- oners transferred to Florence prison, South Carolina, and while en route attempted an escape with several others by jumping off the cars at night, but the ever-watchful guards fired upon them and also jumped from the cars and recaptured them before they could get away. At Florence prison he was again placed in charge of one hundred prisoners, for whom he received and issued rations. In No- vember he escaped from Florence by passing out, as one of the paroled sergeants who were handling the rations outside the stockade, his meal sack, which he threw carelessly over his shoulder, being a successful means of passing the guard at the main gate during the hour of issuing rations. The first night he travelled in creeks and swamps in mud and water, sometimes to his waist, to break his trail and prevent being followed by the hounds, but after nearly three weeks of terrible suffering from hunger and cold, hiding in swamps by day and travelling at night, he was recaptured on Willow Creek bridge, near the Pedee river, South Carolina, while trying to make his way to the coast. He was taken back to Florence and was very sick with scurvy and swamp fever during nearly the entire months of De- cember and January, when many hundreds of the prisoners died from the same disease, his own bunkmate, Corporal Calvin E. Bates, of Company E, Twentieth Maine, losing both feet, which decayed so that they were cut off at the ankles with a pair of scissors. A state-
ment and illustration of this horrible incident appeared in Harper's Weekly, of about April, 1865.
In February, while being transferred to Salisbury prison, North Carolina, he escaped again, and with his companion, Sergeant H. A. Willis, of the First Maine Cavalry, suc- ceeded in reaching the Union lines at Wil- mington, North Carolina, February 22, 1865, in a starving condition. They had been hiding in the swamps near the Confederate army, in midwinter, with very little clothing and abso- lutely without food for five days. They could hear the great guns down the river at Fort Fisher, and believed their friends were coming nearer each day. The night before Wilming- ton was captured they crept through the Con- federate lines to the city, but encountered a squad of the enemy in the suburbs, who fired upon them when they ran away, but they escaped in the darkness, and after a long détour, entered the city again on the north side. Here they questioned an old colored woman and told her they were Yankee pris- oners and wanted a place to hide. She would not believe them, and said they were only rebs, trying to get her into trouble, but they might hide under the old buildings if they wanted to. In about two hours she came out again very gently and whispered: "You dar yit? Well, I guess you's Yanks sho nuff. De Yanks am comin' ober de riber, and de rebs all goin' away, takin' all de men, white and black, with them, but my ole man is hid in the swamp, and dey cain't git him. You's be mighty still and I take youse to a better place." She led them into an old storehouse with gable right up to the street, that was full of the retreating Confederate army. She put a ladder up to a trap door to the attic, and they climbed up and she took away the ladder. They found themselves in the attic of an old building with the roof half gone, and plenty of stars shining through, and cracks at the gable so they could plainly see and hear the Confederate troops as they were leaving the city. They were both suffering from cold, and had very often to stuff their mouths with a piece of an old quilt to keep from coughing loud enough to be heard. Early the next morning there was a commotion in the street below them, a few shots were fired, and in ten minutes they saw a squadron of cavalry coming up the street with the Stars and Stripes. Just how they got down from that old attic and out into the street, where they were furnished with hard tack and bacon by the cavalry boys, they have never been able
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to tell, but they had a confused recollection of tlie old colored woman singing: "Glory! Glory ! Bress de Lord! Dey's come!" etc., etc., and a broken ladder and a light fall. They were soon comfortably located in a tobacco storehouse with a number of other escaped prisoners who had been hidden away in Wilmington for months by friends. There were a great many loyal people in Wilming- ton, and the escaped prisoners were soon fur- nished with good warm clothing and blankets, and the best to eat the city afforded.
After about ten days recuperating they were placed on board a transport and sent to Anna- polis, Maryland, where they received furlough for thirty days to visit their homes in Maine. At home both found commissions awaiting them-Willis as first lieutenant, First Maine Cavalry, and Merriam as second lieutenant, Sixty-seventh United States Colored Troops. Merriam reported from furlough at the War Department in Washington, the day after the assassination of President Lincoln, and viewed his remains in the east room at the White House. He received orders to join his regi- ment, then serving in the Department of the Gulf, via New York City and transport to New Orleans. While waiting in New York for steamer he was selected as one of the veterans to carry the banners and flags of the Union League Club at the funeral of Presi- dent Lincoln in that city. He joined the Sixty-seventh U. S. Colored Troops at Port Hudson, Louisiana, May 29, 1865, but the regiment having been depleted in numbers since the date of his appointment, no company was of sufficient strength to allow the third officer to muster. He then applied to the War Department for authority to muster back to date of appointment, but instead of granting this request he was commissioned as of the same grade in the Sixty-first U. S. C. T., and was thereby deprived of the benefits of his first commission because he was a prisoner and unable to report for muster as required by regulations. He joined the Sixty-first U. S. C. T. at Minden, Louisiana, and was mustered to date May 29, 1865, and subsequently by authority of the War Department to date March 21, 1865. He was honorably mustered out at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, December 30, 1865, and appointed second lieutenant Sixty- fifth U. S. C. T., February 20, 1866, and pro- moted to first lieutenant June 1, 1866. Al- though the youngest officer of his regiment, he was selected by General Edgerton, who commanded at Baton Rouge, to command an
expedition composed of a detachment of his regiment, to proceed by land to Bayou Sara, Louisiana, and break up a band of outlaws and murderers who had murdered Agent Leak, of the Freedmen's Bureau, at that place, and were terrorizing all that part of the state. The expedition of about ten days was very suc- cessful, and on returning to Baton Rouge, Lieutenant Merriam was highly complimented by General Edgerton and congratulated by his brother officers. He was honorably mustered out of the volunteer service with his regiment at St. Louis, Missouri, January 8, 1867.
He then returned to his home in Maine, where he engaged in the lumber and sawmill business with his brother Leonard until 1871. He was employed as quartermaster's clerk at Forts McKavitt and Duncan, Texas, from 1871 to August, 1872. He was appointed second lieutenant Fourth U. S. Infantry, July 27, 1872, and joined that regiment at Frankfort, Kentucky, and assigned to Company K; was with his company at Frankfort, Kentucky, and at Little Rock, Arkansas, till March, 1873 ; on leave of absence in Maine till July, 1873 ; with company at Fort Omaha, Nebraska, and Fort Bridger, Wyoming, till January, 1875; on grasshopper duty in Nebraska, distributing clothing and food to the people of Seward, York and Hamilton counties until May, 1875; with company at Fort Bridger until March 20, 1876. He was granted eight months leave of absence, and during this period occurred his marriage.
It was at this time and while on this leave of absence that he appealed to Congress for an act to enable him to muster on his com- mission as second lieutenant in the Sixty- seventh United States Colored Troops, which was issued to him while a prisoner, and was presented to the Congress by the following letter :
WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D. C., April 17, 1876.
HON. H. B. BENNING,
Chairman Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives.
DEAR GENERAL: Permit me to introduce Lieutenant Merriam, Fourth Infantry. He is trying to get his record corrected. It is just, but there are legal obstacles, and the case requires legislation.
He is an excellent officer, and will, I hope, succeed. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
(Signed) WM. D. WHIPPLE, A. A. G. and A. D. C.
WASHINGTON, D. C., April 28, 1876.
HON. H. B. BANNING, Chairman Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives.
SIR: Lieutenant Merriam was a sergeant in the Twen- tleth Maine Volunteers, which I commanded in the cam- paigns of 1864. He was a most gallant and worthy soldier. I know personally the circumstances of his cap- ture. It was in the charge of the Fifth Army Corps on the fifth day of May. He was in advance of his regi-
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ment, doing most valuable service in a very critical emergency, and was cut off with some others of the com- mand by a flanking party of the enemy.
I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, (Signed ) ELLIS SPEAR, Late Bvt. Brig .- Gen. Vols.
The report of the Adjutant General of the army caused an adverse report from the Mili- tary Committee, and Lieutenant Merriam then wrote the following personal letter to the Ad- jutant General in his defence :
WASHINGTON, D. C., May 10, 1876.
(Personal.)
GENERAL E. D. TOWNSEND,
Adjutant-General, U. S. A.
SIR: I have the honor to submit the following reply to your letter reporting my military record to the Com- mittee on Military Affairs, H. R. In your remarks on said report you do not recognize any merit in my claim whatever, and I feel that if you properly understood the case you could not fail to see some merit in it. I inclose herewith two letters touching my service and Anal capture while in the Twentieth Maine Volunteers. While a prisoner I did not omit any effort to escape, and recklessly exposed my life three times before I suc- ceeded, as my record shows. You say there is nothing peculiar about my case. I cannot think that all who were captured were taken under like circumstances or made the same effort to escape and return to duty in the field. It is the policy of the government to encourage personal risk in the military service, not discourage it. If I had been less adventurous on that day, and less eager to do my whole duty to the country, I should have saved myself nearly a year of suffering to the very border of death, in prison, and five years of broken health after the war, and would have been mustered and paid on my commission, as I now pray to be. I admit I cannot be mustered and paid under the law, otherwise my pe- tition would not be before Congress. I apply because I think my case exceptional and meritorious. It is excep- tional because from its nature there can be but few in- stances where soldiers were commissioned while in the hands of the enemy. It is meritorious because I was thought to have earned the promotion, and was commis- sioned by reason of doing my duty to the utmost, and re- gardless of all hazard I lost. If this is not a case where equity should give what the law denies, then I do not know what equity means. The fact that there may be others who suffered like injustice hardly satisfies me in a refusal of my petition.
I respectfully ask that the private letter be returned to me at 617 E Street, N. W. My excuse for writing this letter is that your remark prejudiced my case very strongly before the committee.
I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, LEWIS MERRIAM, 2d Lieut. 4th Inft., U. S. A. (A true copy.)
The following remarkable letter has been severely criticized by officers of high rank :
WAR DEPARTMENT,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, WASHINGTON, May 13, 1876. LIEUT. LEWIS MERRIAM,
Fourth Infantry,
617 E Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.
SIR: Acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 10th inst., I have respectfully to state that it is consid- ered quite right that the official report from this office should prejudice your claim before the Military Committee of the House of Representatives, as, although your con- duct was gallant and most worthy of commendation, you are certainly not entitled to the money claimed. The U. S. Government was most liberal in granting continu- ance of pay to our prisoners of war, when, under old rules, pay was stopped under such circumstances as oc- curred in your case. But the Regulations forbidding promotions while in the enemy's hands, were made early in the war, to secure the efficiency of regiments in the field, which required their officers with them, and yours is not by many hundreds the only case where officers and soldiers were debarred from promotion by reason of capture.
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