486 



MEAGHER, THOMAS F. 



MERRICK, PLINY. 



of the 3d of February, 1862. On arriving at the 

 camp of General McClellan's army, to which 

 he had been ordered to report, the Irish Bri- 

 gade was attached to Richardson's division, of 

 Sumner's corps, and participated in the advance 

 of the Union forces upon the enemy's position 

 during the month of March following. The 

 conduct of General Meagher and his gallant 

 men in those days of gloom and disaster forms 

 a bright and conspicuous part in the annals of 

 the late war. At the head of his men he parti- 

 cipated in the seven days' battles around Rich- 

 mond, winning general praise for the heroism 

 and skill with which he led that gallant and 

 celebrated brigade into action. At the second 

 battle of Manassas the brigade, then attached to 

 Pope's army, fought with great desperation, 

 and at Antietam, September 17, 1862, won a 

 great reputation for itself and its general, by 

 the valor and order of its men, and was most 

 flatteringly noticed in the official report of 

 General McClellan. In this battle the general's 

 horse was shot under him, and, being injured 

 by the fall sustained, he was compelled to leave 

 the field. The disastrous battle of Fredericks- 

 burg, fought December 13, 1862, only added 

 to the reputation of General Meagher and his 

 men. Charge after charge was headed by him, 

 up to the very crest of the enemy's breast- 

 works, and the number of dead men with green 

 celors in their hats told of the fearful slaughter 

 of the brave Irishmen. In this engagement 

 the general received a bullet-wound through 

 the leg, which temporarily incapacitated him 

 from active service. He had, however, suffi- 

 ciently recovered in April to resume command, 

 and at Chancellorsville, from May 2 to May 4, 

 1863, he led the remnant of the Irish Brigade 

 into action for the last time. It was, indeed, 

 the merest remnant of what had been the pride 

 and flower of the army; and, finding that its 

 numbers were reduced to considerably below 

 the minimum strength of a regiment, on the 8th 

 of May General Meagher tendered his resigna- 

 tion and temporarily retired from the service. 

 Except delivering a lecture on the Irish Bri- 

 gade, at Boston, during the month of October, 

 1863, General Meagher did not appear in pub- 

 lic for several months. But it was not intended 

 by the authorities that a man of his gallantry 

 and skill should remain idle while the country 

 was in danger. During the early part of 1864 

 he was recommissioned brigadier-general of 

 volunteers, and assigned to the command of 

 the District of Etowah, including portions of 

 Tennessee and Georgia. His administration 

 of the affairs of his district was signally suc- 

 cessful, protecting as he did the lines of com- 

 munication, while his command, the Provisional 

 Division of the Army of the Tennessee, was 

 completely isolated by the presence of Hood 

 before Nashville. In January, 1865, he was 

 relieved from duty in Tennessee, and ordered 

 to report to General Sherman at Savannah. 

 Before his departure, Major- General Steedman 

 wrote him a letter, in which he complimented 



General Meagher for the able manner in which 

 he conducted the affairs of the district. The 

 close of the war, soon after his arrival at 

 Savannah, prevented his performing any fur- 

 ther important services to the Government. 

 After all the armies were disbanded, the 

 general was mustered out of service, and 

 during the same year (1865) was appointed 

 Secretary of Montana Territory. In the 

 month of September following, Governor Syd- 

 ney Edgertou being on the point of leaving 

 the Territory for a few months, issued his 

 proclamation appointing General Meagher 

 Governor pro tern. The recent hostilities on 

 the part of the Indians compelled him to 

 take measures to protect the white settlers of 

 Montana, and it was while engaged in this duty 

 that he fell into the river (Upper Missouri), 

 from the deck of a steamboat, and was drowned. 



MECKLENBURG, the name of two grand- 

 duchies in the North-German Confederation. I. 

 MECKLENBTJKG-SonwEEiisr. Grand-duke, Fried- 

 rich Franz II., born February 28, 1823 ; suc- 

 ceeded his father in 1842. Area, 4,834 English 

 square miles; population in 1864,552,612 in- 

 habitants. Public debt in 1866, 7,628,400 

 thalers. The army, in 1867, consisted of 5,386 

 men. The number of vessels entering the 

 ports of Warnemilnde (Rostock) and Wismar, 

 in 1866 .was 896; the number of clearances 

 915. In 1866, Mecklenburg-Schwerin possessed 

 447 merchant-vessels (among these 8 steamers), 

 with 54,039 lasts. II. MECKLENBUKG-STRELITZ. 

 Grand-duke, Friedrich Wilhehn L, born Octo- 

 ber 17 1819; succeeded his father September 

 6, 1860. Area, 997 square miles ; population 

 in 1860, 90,960. The army consisted of 1,317 

 men. 



MERRICK, PLIOT, LL. D., an American 

 jurist, born in Brookfield, Mass., August 

 2, 1794; died in Boston, February 1, 1867. 

 He was fitted for college at Monson and Leices- 

 ter Academies, entered Harvard College in 1810 

 in the same class with Prescott the historian, 

 and graduated in 1814. After leaving college 

 he studied law with Hon. Levi Lincoln, after- 

 ward Governor of Massachusetts, and was ad- 

 mitted to the bar in 1817. He practised his 

 prpfession first in Swanzey, Bristol County; 

 afterward in Taunton, where he was partner 

 with Governor Marcus Morton, and in 1824 re- 

 moved to "Worcester. He was appointed dis- 

 trict-attorney for the county of Worcester by 

 Governor Eustis in 1824, and held the office 

 until April, 1843, when he was appointed by 

 Governor Morton Justice of the Court of Com- 

 mon Pleas. In 1853 he was appointed a Judge 

 of the Supreme Court in place of Hon. Caleb 

 Cushing, and in 1856 removed to Boston. In 

 1848 Judge Merrick left the bench to take 

 charge of the affairs of the Worcester and 

 Nashua Railroad, whose construction had been 

 stopped at Groton Junction for want of funds 

 for its completion. By his energy, vigor, and 

 tact, the corporation was furnished with the 

 means to relieve it from embarrassments, and 



