Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/343

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MERRILL
MERRIMON

of Little Rock." In the following year, while in command of the West division cavalry bureau, he organized and commanded a brigade of cavalry in the campaign against Price's invasion of Missouri, participating in the action near Franklin, Mo. In January, 1865. he was transferred to the Army of the Cumberland and assigned to the command of a brigade of cavalry in northwest Georgia and northern Alabama. On 5 March, 1865, he was pro- moted brevet colonel for services against the forces under Gen. VVofford in the operations that termi- nated in his surrender, and on 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general for " gallant and meritorious service during the war." He then re- turned to his regiment, and in 1866 was made in- spector-general of the Department of the Platte and subsequently judge-advocate of that depart- ment. He was promoted major in 1868, and while serving on the frontier was assigned by his brevet rank to the command of a military district in South Carolina, embracing a territory in which the Ku-klux outrages were most frequent. In return for his services he received the thanks of the war department and of his department commander for " great work and ability in mastering and break- ing up the Ku-klux conspiracy," and those of the legislature of South Carolina for " conspicuous ability " in the performance of his duties. In 1875-'6 he was again called on for similar duty in command of the Red River district of Louisiana. Gen. Merrill was retired from active service on surgeon's certificate of disability in 1886 after sev- eral years of frontier duty.


MERRILL, Selah, clergyman, b. in Canton Centre, Hartford co.. Conn., 2 May, 1837. He en- tered Yale, but left before graduation, and was subsequently given the degree of A. M. by that in- stitution " for special services in biblical learning." He prepared for the ministry in New Haven theo- logical seminary, was ordained as an evangelist in 1864, and subsequently preached at Chester, Mass., Le Roy, N. Y., San Francisco, Cal., and Salmon Falls, iSr. H. He was chaplain of the 49th U. S. colored infantry at Vicksburg, Miss., in 1864-"5, and from 1868 till 1870 studied in Germany. From 1874 till 1877 he was in the Holy Land as archae- ologist of the American Palestine exploration so- ciety. He was U. S. consul in Jerusalem from 1882 till 1886, and while there finally settled the location of the second wall of the city, on which the site of Calvary depends. He has visited Pales- tine three times and made there the largest col- lection of birds, animals, coins, utensils of different kinds, and various natural objects that has yet been brought together. He is a member of the Society of biblical literature and exegesis and of the British society of biblical archfeology. He re- ceived the degree of D. D. from Iowa college in 1875. and that of LL. D. from Union in 1884. Dr. Merrill has written numerous articles for the " Bibliotheca Sacra " and other periodicals on bib- lical geogi'aphy. the cuneiform inscriptions, and other oriental topics, and has published " East of the Jordan " (New York, 1881 ; new ed., 1883) ; " Gali- lee in the Time of Christ" (Boston, 1881 ; London, 1885-6); parts of "Picturesque Palestine" (New York, 1882-'3) ; " Greek Inscriptions collected in the Years 1875-'77 in the Country East of the Jordan " (1885) ; and " Reports on the Country East of the Jordan," in the " Fourth Statement of the American Palestine Exploration Society " (1887). Several of his reports on " Fruit Culture in Palestine," " The Climate of Palestine," the " Condition of the Laboring Classes and of Wages " in that country, and on other topics, have also ap- peared in the consular monthly reports that are published bv the U. S. government.


MERRILL, Stephen Mason, M. E. bishop, b. in Jefferson county, Ohio, 16 Sept., 1825. He en- tered the CHiio conference of the M. E. church in 1864 as a travelling preacher, became editor of the " Western Christian Advocate " in 1868, and was consecrated bishop in 1872. Ohio Wesleyan university gave him the degree of D. D. in 1868, and Northwestern university that of LL. D. in 1886. His publications include " Christian Bap- tism" (Cincinnati, 1876); "New Testament Idea of Hell " (1878) ; " Second Coming of Christ " (1879) ; " Aspects of Christian Experience " (1882) ; " Di- gest of Methodist Law " (1885) ; and " Outlines of Thought on Probation " (1886).


MERRILL, Thomas Abbot, clergvman, b. in Andover, Mass., 18 Jan., 1780 ; d. in Middlebury, Vt., 25 April, 1855. He was graduated at Dart- mouth in 1801, taught for two years in Hanover, N. H., and in August, 1803, was chosen tutor in Dartmouth. The following year he accepted the senior tutorship in Middlebury college. As he had meantime studied theology, he was licensed to preach in January, and ordained in December, 1805, having received a call to fill the vacant pul- pit of the Congregational church at Middlebury, where he remained till 1842. He took an active part in the organization of the Vermont domestic missionary society, of which he was chosen secre- tary, holding the office until 1821, when he de- clined a re-election. He was also a founder of the Vermont peace society in 1837, and president of the Peace convention in 1853. He was nine times moderator of the Congregational general conven- tion, and in 1810 was appointed register of that body. After he left his pastorate he served two years as treasurer of Middlebury college, and sup- plied the pulpit of the church at Weybridge until 1854. In 1837 he received the degree of D. D. from Middlebury. He published " An Election Ser- mon " (1806); "A Sermon before the Domestic Missionary Society" (1833); and "A History of Middlebury, Vt." (1841).


MERRIMAN, Mansfield, civil engineer, b. in Southington, Conn., 27 March, 1848. He was graduated at the Sheffield scientific school of Yale, as a civil engineer, in 1871, and in 1873 entered the LT. S. corps of engineers as assistant engineer. In 1875 he returned to Sheffield as instructor of civil engineering, and in 1876 received the degree of Ph. D. for advanced studies. He was called to the chair of civil engineering in Lehigh university in 1878, which professorship he still (1888) holds. In 1880 he became an acting assistant of the U. S. coast and geodetic survey, and for five years had charge of the primary triangulation of Pennsyl- vania. Prof. Merriman is a member of the Ameri- can society of civil engineers, the American philo- sophical society, and other scientific bodies in the United States and Europe. He has pub- lished " Theory of Continuous Bridges " (New York, 1876) ; " Elements of the Method of Least Squares " (London, 1877) : " The Figure of the Earth, an In- troduction to Geodesy " (New York, 1881) : " Text- Book on the ^lethod of Least Squares " (1884) ; and "The Mechanics of Materials" (1885).


MERRIMON, Augustus Sumnierfleld. senator, b. in Buncombe county (now Transvlvania), N. C, 15 Sept., 1830; d. in lialeigh, .N. t'..'l4 Nov., 1892. He was the son of a AJethodist clergyman, and studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1852, became solicitor to several counties in his circuit, and in 1861 solicitor for the district. In 1860 he was elected to the legislature. At the beginning of the