General Wesley Merritt Signature and Envelope

Major General Wesley Merritt autographed card with envelope that Gen. Merritt had sent as well. Wesley Merritt, Union cavalry officer and first military governor of the Philippines, was born June 16, 1834 in New York City. When he was seven, he moved with his family to St. Though he was inclined towards a career in law, Merritt accepted an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1855.

Merritt won praise for his conduct at the Battle of Brandy Station on June 9, 1863. In his first major combat action, the beardless New Yorker managed to wound Confederate Brig. Lee's middle son, in a one-on-one saber duel as the rest of the Union force withdrew from the battlefield.

After the Battle of Upperville two weeks later, Merritt received an unusual promotion from captain all the way to brigadier general--a decision prompted by the recent reorganization of the cavalry wing into a more unified force. George Armstrong Custer and Elon Farnsworth received the same promotions.

At Gettysburg, Merritt commanded a brigade of regulars under John Buford, but missed the furious first day's battle while guarding the army's supply lines. On July 3, however, he participated in the fateful cavalry charge on the Confederate right flank below Big Round Top ordered by Brig.

The charge was a bloody failure that resulted in the death of Elon Farnsworth. Lee's surrender, Merritt chose to remain in the army. After the death of George Custer at Little Bighorn, Merritt struck back with a victory at the Battle of Slim Buttes in 1876.

In 1898, he commanded the VIII Corps in Manila during the Spanish-American War. After taking the city, he served as military governor of the Philippines for nearly two years before retiring from the army in 1900.

He died peacefully in 1910, the only one of the 1863 promotees to do so, and is now interred at West Point.

---