John G. Merritt

He Was Wounded Capturing a Flag at Bull Run

John G. Merritt was born on October 31, 1837, in New York City. When the American Civil War began, he entered Union service and joined Company K of the 1st Minnesota Infantry. By the summer of 1861, Merritt held the rank of Sergeant and was preparing to experience one of the war’s first major battles.

The conflict was still in its opening months when Union forces moved into Virginia in an effort to confront the Confederate army near Manassas. Many soldiers on both sides had little experience of large-scale combat, and expectations that the war might be decided quickly were still common.

That changed dramatically on July 21, 1861.

Union and Confederate forces met near Bull Run in what became the First Battle of Bull Run, also known as First Manassas. The engagement grew into a large and confused struggle as units moved across unfamiliar terrain and attempted to maintain formation amid artillery fire, rifle fire, smoke, and rapidly changing battlefield conditions.

Sergeant John G. Merritt entered the battle with the 1st Minnesota Infantry.

The regiment became heavily engaged as Union forces attempted to press the Confederate position. During the fighting, Merritt moved forward beyond the immediate position of his regiment and attempted to capture an enemy battle flag.

Civil War flags carried enormous military and symbolic importance. They identified regiments on battlefields where smoke and confusion could make formations difficult to distinguish. Soldiers used their colors as rallying points, and dedicated color guards were expected to protect them.

Capturing an enemy flag therefore required a soldier to move into extremely dangerous ground.

Merritt succeeded in seizing a flag while operating in front of his regiment.

During the action, he was wounded.

His official Medal of Honor citation later recognized both his gallantry and the fact that he was injured while capturing the colors. The surviving authoritative record does not securely identify the Confederate regiment to which the flag belonged, so the significance of Merritt’s achievement rests on what is firmly documented: he advanced in front of his own regiment, captured an enemy flag, and was wounded while doing so.

The Battle of Bull Run ultimately ended in Union defeat.

Confederate resistance stiffened during the day, and the Union advance eventually collapsed into a retreat toward Washington. The result shattered early expectations of a short conflict and demonstrated that the war would be far longer and more destructive than many Americans had imagined.

Within that larger defeat, however, individual acts of courage were recorded.

Merritt’s conduct was one of them.

At the time of his action, he held the rank of Sergeant. His surviving military record later also contains a rank-out entry of Private, but no rank higher than Sergeant has been securely verified. His Medal of Honor action therefore belongs specifically to his service as a Sergeant in the 1st Minnesota Infantry.

The significance of Merritt’s deed becomes clearer when considered in the context of an early Civil War battlefield.

Command structures were still developing, inexperienced troops often struggled to maneuver under fire, and the ability of individual soldiers to continue acting aggressively amid confusion could have an important effect on those around them.

Merritt did not remain behind the protection of his regiment’s line.

He went forward toward the enemy colors.

The attempt exposed him to direct danger, and the wound he received demonstrated how costly such an action could be.

His courage was not formally recognized with the Medal of Honor immediately after the battle.

Nearly nineteen years later, on April 1, 1880, John G. Merritt was presented with the Medal of Honor for his actions at Bull Run on July 21, 1861.

The decoration permanently recorded his gallantry during the battle and his capture of the enemy flag.

The delay between the action and the presentation was not unusual among Civil War recipients. During and after the conflict, military records continued to be reviewed, and some acts of courage were formally recognized years or even decades after they occurred.

For Merritt, the Medal of Honor preserved a moment from the very beginning of the Civil War.

His action took place before Gettysburg, before Vicksburg, before the long struggle around Petersburg, and before the massive campaigns that later came to define the conflict. Bull Run was still one of the first major demonstrations of what the war would demand from the soldiers fighting it.

Merritt survived his wound and the war.

He lived for more than three decades after the Battle of Bull Run, during which the United States underwent enormous political, social, and economic change. As veterans aged, the events of the Civil War increasingly became subjects of public remembrance, historical writing, reunions, monuments, and official recognition.

John G. Merritt died on December 17, 1892, in Washington, D.C. He was buried in Congressional Cemetery.

His military legacy remains tied to July 21, 1861.

During one of the Civil War’s first great battles, Sergeant Merritt advanced in front of the 1st Minnesota Infantry, captured an enemy battle flag, and was wounded in the act.

Nearly two decades later, the Medal of Honor formally recognized that courage.

The decoration preserved the story of a soldier who moved beyond his regiment’s line into dangerous ground and seized the enemy colors during a battle that revealed just how difficult and costly the Civil War would become.