Lewis Merrill
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Lewis Merrill (1834-96) was an American soldier, born at New Berlin, Pa. He studied at Lewisburg University (Pennsylvania), graduated at West Point in 1855, was assigned to duty as lieutenant with the First Dragoons, and served in Missouri, in Kansas Territory, and with the Utah expedition. In 1861, as colonel and first cavalry officer on the staff of John C. Frémont, he organized Merrill's Horse to oppose guerrillas in Missouri, and later commanded the Department of St. Louis and then that of the Department of Northern Missouri. In 1864 he was commander of the cavalry bureau at St. Louis and took part in the engagements at Franklin, Mo. The next year he was sent against guerrillas in northern Georgia and Alabama and was breveted brigadier general. After various western assignments he was placed in command of a military district in South Carolina with orders to break up the Ku-Klux Klan. From 1871 to 1873 he succeeded in this so well that he received the thanks of the War Department. When similar conditions arose in the Red River district of Louisiana he was made commander there in 1875, remaining until the following year. As a consequence of his activities his nomination as lieutenant colonel in the regular army was held up for several years in the Senate by Southern sympathizers, but it was finally confirmed as from 1886. Merrill was retired in 1891. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
- This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
