Augustus S. Merrimon
The name of .liulge Merrimon is. and should
lie. one highly honored in our stale, for lie*
rendered our eoninionuealth a service of
conspicuous value in the days which tried
moil's souls.
IN rivalling ilu> great sons of Bun-
(4)iii be, onr thought* always r«vur
to Governor Zchulou H. Vance and
Governor David I,. Swain, blit only a
few recollect that another of onr fore¬
most statesmen, Augusta* S. Merri-
mon. was born in that county in 1830.
His father was a country preacher ami
was unable to give hi* soli the benefit
of an education other than such rudi¬
ments as were taught in the Old Field
school* of that day. Yet the fires of
ambition burned within the breast
of young Merrimon; lie yearned for
a public career anil determined to
have one. Therefore, after a hard
day’s work upon the farm, he did as
did President Lincoln -ho studied far
into the night. He wanted to become
a lawyer, but as be was without means
to employ even a private instructor,
he studied without any teacher what¬
ever. lie. secured his license permitting
him to practice and moved to Ashe¬
ville to engage in the practice of his
profession.
Determination to Succeed
While Merrimon’* educational ad¬
vantages had been <piite limit'd, he
was possessed of an intellect of large
calibre; he had the determination to
succeed, and lie possessed the willing¬
ness to toil and IuIhu' sufficiently to
bring success within his reach. These
habits, with his known probity and
high character, soon brought him some
Cractice. and although the Asheville
ir was then a formidable one con¬
sidering the small sirs- of the town,
young Merrimon soon reaped the re¬
ward of bis diligence and was elected
us County Solicitor not a high of¬
fice, to be sure, but one which brought
liim before the |>eoplc and gave him
the opportunity to show the mettle
of which his legal character was
forged. He advanced rapidly in his
profession and soon ro*e to the top
of the Asheville bar.
As tin* Civil War drew on, Merri-
1 1
и
m was, like Vance ayd Swain, an
Old Line Union Whig, and ns such
lie was elected to the legislature in
I860. When the State seceded in
1861, he was tendered a stalT uppoiut-
»!/ К.
C. LAWRENCE
lui'iit by the Governor with the rank
of Major, but at about the same time
In- was cbvted as Solicitor "f the
Superior Court for the mountain dis¬
trict, and as this position was in the
line of his professional advancement
he accepted his election and filled that
post during all the war years; and a
difficult position it was too, for there
were few slaveholders in the moun¬
tains and its people were divided in
their allegiance; sonic espousing the
cause of the South, while other* con¬
tinued to adhere in their devotion to
• he Union. Families were divides),
many having sons in Iwtli armies;
the mountains offered convenient
hiding places for deserter.-, and law¬
lessness was rampant everywhere.
Under these circumstance- it look
courage for the Solicitor to under¬
take to administer the duties of hi*
office with resolute firmnew.
Superior Court Judge
In 1866, when the conservative and
responsible native whites had suc¬
ceeded in electing Jonathan Worth ns
Governor, with a legislature strongly
conservative in both branches. Mr.
Merrimon was elected as Superior
Court Judge, and he gained nil en¬
viable reputation in that capacity. Hut
in ISU7 Congress passed the Heron-
st ruction Acts, under which the State
became a Federal Military District
with the courts subordinate l" the
Federal General in command of tin-
Department, In August, 1867, this
General issued orders requiring all
Judge* to enforce the military order*
issm-d by bill!, and to disregard any
acts pa—ed by the General
А-ч
Kather than carry out such directions,
and being unable to avoid doing so
if he remained upon the It-iirh. Judge
Merrimon, along with Severn I mem¬
bers of the Superior Court bench,
resigned a* a protest against this
mockery ”1 law and order.
Returning to private practice, In-
moved bis residence to Raleigh which
henceforth ls-came his home. At thi.
time the Federal government was
rapidly taking steps to overthrow the
State government which had been
elected by the people. The negroes
were enrolled as voters and a Conven¬
tion was calh-d to frame a nee Con¬
stitution for the State. Judge Mer¬
rimon could not *it idly bv and re¬
main an idle spectator while the right •
of the JM-Ople were being rutlilcssh
overthrown, and lie therefore joined
with Vance, Graham, Hansom ate!
other distinguished men in -coking
to arrest the threatened destruction of
the existing State government. In tie-
campaign of that year he served a*
Chairman of tin- State Executive
Committee of the Conservative
(Democratic) party, and was also
nominated by that party as one <-f tin-
five Supreme Court Justice.1- win-
were to Is- voted for at tin- same
time as the proposed Constitution.
The Conservative, of course lost the
election, as it was conducted under
the auspice, of the Federal military
authorities.
In
187».
when the employment *«f
troops by Governor Holden threatened
to plunge the State into a new fratrici¬
dal war, Judge Merrimon was an
active participant, being of counsel
for the prisoners win-ill Chief Justice
IVareon refused to release on writ*
of iiahea- corpus, and assisting
General Matt W. Ran -oin in securing
the desired writ* from Federal Judge
George W. Hrook*.
The Holding Impeachment
By this time the eminent ability
of Judge Merrimon hud made him n
state-wide figure in public life, ami
when ill 1870 the House of K- pro
•tentative* determined
I»
impeach the
Governor, the Hoard ->f Manager*
employed
former G
to rvi
»п*м
in discharging the dlltie. in connection
with this sole impeiieliim-nt ease in
«-nr history, brought to him -till
further laurels a* a lawyer and orator.
The following year he was tie
(Continu'd on i*we jerenfern)