Augustus Summerfield Merrimon

Augustus Summerfield Merrimon was born September 15^th, 1830 in Transylvania County, in what is now part of Buncombe County, N.C.  Merrimon was the son of a Branch H. Merrimon, a Methodist minister, and Mary Paxton.  Augustus was the eldest of ten children, and after his family moved to Harper’s Creek he worked on their farm and sawmill.  Merrimon’s family was not particularly well off and he received limited formal education. Despite restrictions Merrimon’s father emphasized the importance of learning and required his son to read aloud at night.  In his youth he received tutoring and irregular attendance at a nearby school house, and at age nineteen he went to Asheville Male Academy for eight months, assistance teaching there for six more months for further education.  

Branch Merrimon was unable to send his son to school, and so Augustus spend one year studying law under Asheville attorney John W. Woodfin, coming to the bar in 1852.  He shared this time with Zebulon B. Vance, and courted and married Vance’s cousin.  Margaret Jane Baird was born September 8^th, 1834, the daughter of Israel and Mary Tate Baird.  Merrimon and Baird were married September 14^th, 1852, when Margaret was eighteen.  They would eventually have eight children.

He began practice within the year and began to ride circuit.  Merrimon was not completely satisfied with his circuit, complaining of “half freezing almost all the time”¹ and viewing some of his fellow lawyers as “censurable with intolerable sloth.”²  He began to take interesting in politics at this time, running for Buncombe County solicitor but loosing to Zebulon B. Vance, his former study mate.  He was later elected to the position and in 1860 was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons. 

Merrimon was deeply devoted to the south and before the split had thought that remaining in the Union was the best course of action for it.  In the agitation before the Civil War he took a pro-Union stance, but after President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 men to fight the south he decided to join the Confederate army.  Merrimon was a proponent of slavery, believing that is was “of divine appointment”³ and thought that the institution was unjustly abused by its opponents.   In 1861 he joined as a private in the Rough and Ready Guards from Buncombe County and was soon appointed as a commissary with the rank of captain.  He held this position until he became Solicitor of the Eighth Judicial District from 1861 to 1865.  This position had him prosecuting Confederate and Union deserters and offenses against the peace.

After the war Merrimon was elected Judge of the Superior Court and in 1866 and had the first sessions of his court at hazard, local sheriffs having to arrange for police forces to keep the peace in several counties.  In 1867 he resigned from this position rather than obey a military order given to the courts by Gen. Edward R. S. Canby.  This order required state judges to ignore state statutes and “proceed in the execution of their office according to the direction prescribed.”   He them moved to Raleigh and had a successful law partnership with Samuel F. Phillips.  In 1868 Merrimon became active in politics once more and was chosen to be chairman of the state executive committee of the Conservative party.  Despite this move upward he was unable to win a seat on North Carolina’s Supreme Court.

Merrimon also ran for governor of North Carolina in 1872 but was defeated by Tod R. Caldwell.  Shortly after this he was elected to the United States Senate for one term beginning in 1873 and ending in 1879.  He served on the Committee on Claims, Post-Office and Post-Roads, and Revision of Rules.  In Senate Merrimon represented the traditional views of the white southern Democrats.  He worked against Civil rights legislation, believing it would result “in the degeneracy and eventual extinction of the two races.”  Merrimon stated that he “ardently desire[d] the progress . . . of all races” but believed that civil rights legislation was “destructive of such ends.”  Merrimon also advocated a national bank to ensure more even distribution of banking capital.  In 1879 he ran for senate again but was defeated by Z. B. Vance.  He held the position of associate justice of the N.C. Supreme Court from 1883 to 1889 and then served as chief justice from 1889 until he died.

Merrimon died on November 14^th, 1892, apparently from diabetes.  He left behind six children, four of them continuing to live in the south.  He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh.

"As a boy Judge Merrimon's opportunities for an education were limited.  He kept until his death a copy of Town's "Analysis," from which he had acquired the rudiments of an education by snatches while following the plow, or as he watched the saw cutting its way through the logs at the mill where he labored. (1917. Ashe, Samuel et al. Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. VIII p. 334.)

"Later his father sent him to school in Asheville, where he was able to remain only eight months; but such was his diligence and progress that he was retained six months longer as assistant teacher and used the opportunity to prosecute his studies.  He had no further school advantages.  He studied law and was admitted to the Bar in 1853, and located in Asheville.  His merit was speedily recognized and he was soon made county attorney for Buncombe and other counties. In 1860, Judge Merrimon, being a Whig in his political affiliations, was what was called a Union man.  In that year he was elected to the house of commons, defeating his able and popular opponent, David Coleman, by 28 votes.  Party spirit ran high, the agitating question in the Assembly being preparation for possible civil war.  A bill was introduced in the house appropriating $300,000 to purchase arms and ammunition.  Judge Merrimon opposed it and contributed largely to delaying its passage, and in Feb. he made a powerful argument against the doctrine of secession to a crowded and excited house.  However, the question of whether a convention should be called was submitted to the vote of the people, who determined it adversely by some 600 majority.  At length about the middle of April, Pres. Lincoln called upon North Carolina for troops to suppress the insurgent states, and immediately all differences among the public men of North Carolina were hushed.  Judge Merrimon himself volunteered in the Rough and Ready Guards, a company formed in Buncombe County.  The Legislature being convened in special session, called a convention that on May 20 declared the State out of the Union.  The Rough and Ready Guards were encamped at Raleigh, and Gov. Ellis commissioned Judge Merrimon as captain in the commissary department and he served usefully at Weldon, Ocracoke, Fort Macon and elsewhere. (1917. Ashe, Samuel et al. Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. VIII, p. 335.)

"In 1862 he was active in bringing forward Col. Z. B. Vance as a candidate for governor, and although no state conventions were held that year, he succeeded in having many county meetings recommend the election of Col. Vance, who in August was elected governor over Col. Wm. Johnston. (1917. Ashe, Samuel et al.  Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. VIII, pp. 335, 336.)

"In the western counties composing his district there were many who were bitterly opposed to secession, while their secession neighbors were warm advocates of southern success.  As a consequence, there was great hostility between the factions, that led to outbreaks, and as Solicitor Merrimon was resolved as far as possible to maintain law and order, his position and his duties brought him into much personal danger.  On one occasion some of the inhabitants of Madison County seized Marshall, the county seat, whose principal citizens favored the southern cause, plundered the stores and committed many acts of violence.  This lawlessness was bitterly resented by the Confederate population of Buncombe, and a thousand men, under popular and prominent leaders, hurried to Madison to punish the marauders.  Solicitor Merrimon would not consent to this disregard of the civil power, and a violent contention arose; but he carried his point, and the ordinary legal remedies were applied.   Civil power was vindicated, and military ardor was suppressed; but it was not without personal risks, and personal injury was threatened and was imminent. (1917. Ashe, Samuel et al. Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. VIII, p. 336.)

"...At the opening of the Clay court in particular there were hundreds of armed men waiting for a pretext for an onslaught; and on the first day of the term an affray took place in which sixty to eighty persons were engaged.  The judge directed the sheriff to swear in sixty trusty and resolute men of both factions, and to see that they were well armed, and to instruct them to shoot without hesitation the first man guilty of violence with intent to create general disturbance.  The same course secured quiet at the court of Cherokee, where danger was still more imminent.  Crushing down the prevailing spirit of disorder and resolutely administering the law with impartial justice, Judge Merrimon prepared the way for the people to resume their reverence for the law.  A man of less courage, firmness and judgment could not have succeeded as he did in repressing violence and establishing order at that time, when 'border warfare' was still flagrant. (1917. Ashe, Samuel et al.  Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. VIII, p.337.)

"When holding court in Johnston County, Judge Merrimon received from Gen. Sickles an order to disregard state laws and enforce military orders.  Rather than obey he proposed to resign; but Gov. Worth urged him to withhold his resignation until after the trial of the "Johnston Will Case," which was to be heard in Chowan County.  He tried that celebrated case, the trial consuming four weeks, and being attended by the most brilliant array of lawyers ever engaged in a single case in North Carolina.  Judge Merrimon's rulings on that trial gained him high reputation. He subsequently resigned as judge and opened an office in Raleigh, forming a partnership with Samuel Phillips which continued several years. (1917. Ashe, Samuel et al. Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. VIII, pp. 337, 388.)

"[Merrimon] was zealous in his antagonism of the measures of the Republicans and of Gov. Holden's administration during the next two years [1868-'70]. When at length Gov. Holden began the Kirk War, Judge Merrimon was the trusted adviser of Josiah Turner, the editor of the Sentinel, and himself wrote many of the editorials that gave that paper its great fame at that period.  When the arrests of citizens began Judge Merrimon was among the first lawyers to make application for writs of habeas corpus, and he participated largely in the struggle for the restoration of the liberties of the people.  The following winter Gov. Holden was impeached, and Judge Merrimon with Governors Bragg and Graham, was employed to conduct the impeachment.  In this employment he won his greatest title to fame. (1917. Ashe, Samuel et al. Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. VIII, p. 388.)

"In the Legislature following the election of Nov. 1872, the United States senatorship was warmly contested between Judge Merrimon and Gov. Vance....But when the vote was taken in the joint assembly of the two houses the Republicans voted for Judge Merrimon and enough Conservatives also voted for him to give him the election over Gov. Vance...He served his term of six years, 1873-79...." (1917. Ashe, Samuel et al.  Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. VIII, p.339.)

In 1873 Judge Merrimon entered into partnership with the late Thomas Fuller and Capt. S. A. Ashe, and he continued to practice law until...Gov. Jarvis appointed him associate justice of the Supreme Court...he continued to fill that post until Nov. 14, 1889 when...he was appointed chief justice by Gov. Fowle...He continued to discharge the duties of chief justice until his death in 1892. (1917. Ashe, Samuel et al.  Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. VIII, p. 339.)

"At the age of 22 he married...Miss Margaret Baird, daughter of Israel Baird of Buncombe County....Mrs. Merrimon survived her husband until April 27, 1907, leaving three sons and three daughters. (1917. Ashe, Samuel et al. Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. VIII, pp. 339, 340.)

"That with his disadvantages in early life he should have risen to be one of the leading lawyers of the State, chief justice and United States senator, and should have accumulated a handsome estate, argues the possession of no ordinary talents and capacity.....in his last illness he connected himself with the church in which he had been reared, whose teachings he had respected and followed, and of which his father was for sixty years a beloved minister. (1917. Ashe, Samuel et al.  Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. VIII, p. 341.)

Bibliography

Ashe, Samuel, ed.  Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. 8.  Greensboro, NC:  Charles L.  Van Noppen, 1905.

Carnes, Mark C., and Garranty, John A., editors.  American National Biography, Volume 15.    New York:  Oxford University Press, 1999. ^{1, 2, 3}

Fiske, John, and Wilson, James Grant, editors.  Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 4.  New York:  D. Appleton & Co., 1888-1889.  Reprint.  Detroit:  Gale Research, 1968.

Lanman, Charles.  Biographical Annals of the Civil Government of the United States.  During its first century; from original and official sources.  Washington, DC:  James Anglim, 1876.  Reprint.  Detroit:  Gale Research, 1976.

Powell, William S., ed.  Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Volume 4.  Chapel Hill, NC:  University of North Carolina Press, 1979.