Leonidas Merritt
Era: Civil War
Military Branch: Army
MERRITT, Leonidas
The family of Leonidas Merritt had lived in New York and Pennsylvania before arriving the Oneota settlement, which later became part of Duluth, Minnesota in 1855. Leonidas was born on February 20th 1844.
Leonidas was one of 18 locals of the St. Louis County area that served with the Union during the Civil War. He mustered in and out as a Private (PVT) in the Union Army.
When the Civil War began, Merritt enlisted with the Iowa 5th Volunteer Calvary. On March 30th 1864 he tranferred into the Minnesota Calvary, Company B (Brackett’s Battalion), a unit that fought extensively in Missouri, Tennessee and Alabama before being sent to the Dakotas and Montana late in the war years to put down Indian uprisings. After his discharge on June 1st 1966, he returned to Duluth.
Lewis Merritt, the father of Leonidas, had predicted iron ore would be found in great abundance in Northeastern Minnesota. Leonidas and four other of the family’s eight sons joined two other relatives in timber cruising and a search for iron ore and other minerals from the 1860s to the 1880s.
On May 8th 1870 he married Elizabeth Emma "Lizzie" [Wheeler] in Duluth and they started a family.
In 1887 the “Seven Iron Men,” found a rich vein of iron ore near what is now Mountain Iron and, on Nov. 16, 1891, found the first large body of ore. They worked quickly to bring rail service to the location and develop the ore. The process succeeded, but John D. Rockefeller, who had invested in it, later foreclosed on the Merritt family loans and took over the operation.
PVT Merritt is featured on the SLCHS/VMH traveling exhibit, "The 18". The exhibit honors the 18 local Veterans known to have left everything to go off and fight for the Union in the Civil War. These 18 men, their characters forged in the rugged wilds of northern Minnesota, served the nation and helped build St. Louis County.
Mr. Merrit died on May 9th 1926 in Duluth at 82 years of age. He is buried at Oneota Cemetery in Duluth.
Source(s)
Albert J. Amatuzio Research Center | Veterans Memorial Hall (vets-hall.org)
Page 1 Civil War Service Index (CMSR) - Union - Minnesota - Fold3
Grave Memorial Records - Find A Grave
Ancestry.com - Minnesota, U.S., Civil War Records, 1861-1865
