American War Hero · Spanish–American War · Notice Nearby
Wikimedia Commons — File:Wesley Merritt, Major General (Union).jpg (Public domain)
Wesley Merritt
June 16, 1836 – December 3, 1910
Born New York City, New York
Died Natural Bridge, Virginia
Major General, U.S. Army; commanding general, Eighth Corps / Philippine Expedition, 1898; first American military governor of Manila / the Philippines after Spanish surrender
Wesley Merritt already had a Civil War cavalry résumé when Washington sent him across the Pacific in 1898. As major general commanding the Eighth Corps, he took the Philippine Expedition to Manila, coordinated with Dewey’s squadron, and accepted the Spanish surrender of the city in August 1898. He briefly served as the first American military governor there before turning the post over and returning stateside — dates fixed in War Department orders and the peace papers.
West Point superintendent years and earlier frontier command sit outside this card. The register files the 1898 Manila expedition: corps command, city surrender, military governorship. Merritt died at Natural Bridge, Virginia, in 1910. The Union major-general portrait on Wikimedia Commons is public domain. He is not listed as missing.
- Publication
- NN-HERO-1898-007
- Content hash
- 6e35616f 655408f0 3c9b70e6 535de859 3117c248 1f51f66b a7a1f8b0 c2b7b8ad
- Base anchor
- 0x35ffd5 1c918747 770640aa bb640cfc 832105a9 7f77a27d a10a91dc 3822355b 43
Base stores the content hash, publication number, memorial id, and timestamp — not the full obituary text. The complete memorial remains on Notice Nearby. This is not a legal affidavit.