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(c. 1831 - 1868)
Home State: New York
Command Billet: Battery Sergeant
Branch of Service: Artillery
Before Antietam
A 22 year old tailor, he enlisted as a Private in Battery E, 4th United States Artillery on 20 April 1853 in New York City, and reenlisted on 17 March 1858 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, by then a Corporal. He was First Sergeant of the Battery by September 1862.
On the Campaign
"... While going into position spherical case shot from a Confederate battery killed Lt. W. L. Baker, severely wounded Capt. Clark, and the command devolved on Sergeant C. F. Merkel, who fought the battery until the close of the action". (from a Battlefield Tablet)
The rest of the War
He was appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the Battery on 22 October 1862. By May 1863 he was with Battery G of the 4th, commanded the left section at Gettysburg, and, on the Chattanooga Campaign in early 1864, was in command of the Battery. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant on 11 May 1864.
After the War
He was cited by Brevet for "gallant and meritorious service" at the battles of Gettysburg (to First Lieutenant) and Franklin (Captain). He resigned from the Army in July 1866 and enlisted in the US Marine Corps, as Sergeant.
References & notes
Birth
c. 1831; Kirchheim, GERMANY
Death
10/15/1868; Brooklyn, NY
1 Heitman, Francis Bernard, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, 2 volumes, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1903, pg. 704 [AotW citation 376]
2 US War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (OR), 128 vols., Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1880-1901, various citations [AotW citation 377]
3 US Army, Registers of Enlistments in the United States Army, 1798-1914, Washington, DC: National Archives, 1956, Vol. 049, pg. 274; Vol. 053, pg. 142 [AotW citation 29463]