Robert Merriman

Robert Merriman Historical Figure Nationality: United States Year of Birth: 1908 Year of Death: 1938 Cause of Death: Killed in the Spanish Civil War, precise circumanstance unknown Occupation: Educator, Soldier Spouse: Marion Stone Military Branch: Lincoln Brigade (Spanish Civil War) Fictional Appearances: The War That Came Early POD: July 20, 1936; Relevant POD: September 29, 1938 Appearance(s): Hitler's War Type of Appearance: Posthumous reference Date of Death: 1938 Cause of Death: Unrevealed Military Branch: Lincoln Brigade (Spanish Civil War)

Robert Hale Merriman (1908 – April 2, 1938) was an American professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He joined the Republican forces in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, and commanded the Abraham Lincoln Batallion.

Merriman led the battalion again during the Battle of Teruel in Aragon. Under heavy attack by Nationalist tanks and aircraft, the battalion was forced to retreat in the only available direction, Catalonia and its boundary, the Ebro River. On April 2, 1938, around the vineyards of Corbera d'Ebre, near the key city of Gandesa, 20 kilometers before the river, Merriman and his lieutenant, Edgar James Cody, were either killed in action or captured and executed some hours later.

Milton Wolff succeeded Merriman as commander of the Lincoln Brigade.

Merriman was probably the model for Robert Jordan, the hero of Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Robert Merriman in The War That Came Early

When Robert Merriman was killed in the spring of 1938, he was succeeded by Milton Wolff, who led the Abraham Lincoln Brigade until he himself was badly injured in February 1939.