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American Commander in Spain: Robert Hale Merriman and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Robert Hale Merriman (1908–38) was an American professor of economics at the University of California. He joined the Republican forces in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and commanded the Abraham Lincoln Battalion of the International Brigades.
269 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 31, 2020
This book was written by Merriman's widow (and another writer). The Merrimans were pretty typical university types, he was a Berkeley Phd student and a college teacher. They were like most ivory tower-types, enamored of the Soviet Union. They moved there so he could do a Phd dissertation on the USSR economy. Even 50 years removed, Marion Merriman can't seem to call the communists out for their evil deeds. Nary a critical word on Stalin or any of the Western enablers for their blindness. Here is her description of the despicable Walter Duranty, who gives her a job when her husband ships out for the Spanish Civil War:
The Abraham Lincoln Battalion first fights at the Battle of Jarama. (Kudos to the authors for putting decent maps of the country and individual battles!) Here is an account of the first American killed in the Spanish Civil War:
Describing the new experience of combat by the Lincoln Battalion boys:
Only sixty to eighty Americans lived through the horror of Jarama without shedding their blood into the soil of Spam. One hundred and twenty-seven were killed and almost two hundred were wounded.
Rich kids are the same in every war. Merriman and his wife take a break from the front for some R&R in Murcia:
We walked the streets during those early days of spring and sipped drinks in the sidewalk cafes. We sat in the warm Spanish sunshine and watched the people around us. I asked about the sleek-haired, well-dressed young Spanish men, most of whom wore dark glasses and sipped coffee by the hour.
They were from aristocratic families, Bob said. They had bought their way out of the war, paid the government to avoid service in the army. They were young and rich and quite elegant, if ambivalent and corrupt. They stood-or sat-in sharp contrast to the American volunteers who, beaten and battered, convalesced alongside them in the sidewalk cafes.
A news reporter had to go out and get the news with little help from any government source:
Marion Merriman had to watch out for herself when her husband was away at the front. Some soldiers thought the Socialist mantra of sharing extended to the physical:
Sometimes I was accepted a little too much. Occasionally, the men made advances. I put them off quickly and, whenever I could, with kindness. The ones who really exasperated me were those with the political arguments: “Now, comrade, it says on page such and such about sharing.” I told one such enterprising young man that such sharing really wouldn’t work, that if I slept with him as he suggested I’d have to sleep with the other two thousand men to be fair and that I wasn’t up to it.
Gallows humor in war:
Three Stars I found it a very informative account of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion/later Brigade. A bit disjointed but Maj Merriman was not there to elaborate on his diary entries. He disappeared in the later battles along the Ebro River.
The Abraham Lincoln Battalion first fights at the Battle of Jarama. (Kudos to the authors for putting decent maps of the country and individual battles!) Here is an account of the first American killed in the Spanish Civil War:
Describing the new experience of combat by the Lincoln Battalion boys:
Only sixty to eighty Americans lived through the horror of Jarama without shedding their blood into the soil of Spam. One hundred and twenty-seven were killed and almost two hundred were wounded.
Rich kids are the same in every war. Merriman and his wife take a break from the front for some R&R in Murcia:
We walked the streets during those early days of spring and sipped drinks in the sidewalk cafes. We sat in the warm Spanish sunshine and watched the people around us. I asked about the sleek-haired, well-dressed young Spanish men, most of whom wore dark glasses and sipped coffee by the hour.
They were from aristocratic families, Bob said. They had bought their way out of the war, paid the government to avoid service in the army. They were young and rich and quite elegant, if ambivalent and corrupt. They stood-or sat-in sharp contrast to the American volunteers who, beaten and battered, convalesced alongside them in the sidewalk cafes.
A news reporter had to go out and get the news with little help from any government source:
Marion Merriman had to watch out for herself when her husband was away at the front. Some soldiers thought the Socialist mantra of sharing extended to the physical:
Sometimes I was accepted a little too much. Occasionally, the men made advances. I put them off quickly and, whenever I could, with kindness. The ones who really exasperated me were those with the political arguments: “Now, comrade, it says on page such and such about sharing.” I told one such enterprising young man that such sharing really wouldn’t work, that if I slept with him as he suggested I’d have to sleep with the other two thousand men to be fair and that I wasn’t up to it.
Gallows humor in war:
Three Stars I found it a very informative account of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion/later Brigade. A bit disjointed but Maj Merriman was not there to elaborate on his diary entries. He disappeared in the later battles along the Ebro River.
July 20, 2025
A fascinating, compelling, intriguing and sad book about Robert Merriman and his wife, Marion. He was an economics professor and the commander of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. She was the only woman member of the brigade. They graduated from The University of Nevada Reno so the Reno part of the book was an added bonus.
August 2, 2017
It is safe to say that few Americans today know much about the Spanish Civil War. It ended seventy-eight years ago. A lifetime. In addition, the United States remained neutral in the conflict preferring an isolationist ‘America First’ foreign policy. Although Franco’s Nationalist rebels were fascists, vigorously supported by Hitler and Mussolini, the lawfully elected Republicans were tinged with a rainbow of labels reflecting its leftist, liberal components including communist, socialist, and anarchist. All were legitimate. The communistic Soviet Union was the only major power to back the Republicans and it proved to be half-hearted backing at best.
There were anti-fascist idealists, including several thousand Americans, who shunned all of the Republican labels and sought simply to fight the fascists. Robert Hale Merriman was one of them. A University of California Berkeley graduate student in economics, Merriman was on a fellowship to the Soviet Union, in company with his wife Marion, to study their economy when the Spanish Civil War broke out. His conscience drove him towards Spain. Marion reminded Bob that his true value to the world lay in his contributions as a scholar, not as a soldier. Eventually Spain won out and Bob headed for Spain and war.
The Republican side, Compared to Franco’s Nationalists, was ‘under’ in just about every important category—under manned, under equipped, under fed, under armed under trained, under led, and under organized. Bob, because he had completed the Army ROTC program at the University of Nevada and received a commission moved quickly up the ladder of command in the American volunteer brigade known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Merriman threw himself into training and leading his soldiers. In a very short time he found himself second in command officially, and for all practical purposes in command of the Brigade.
Merriman was seriously wounded in the shoulder while fighting. Recovery took several months. Marion joined him in Spain during his recovery and became the first and only female member of the Lincoln Brigade. Once recovered, Merriman returned to full duty. In early April 1938 while retreating, Merriman went missing in action. It is not known exactly what happened, but Merriman was likely captured and executed by the Nationalists. Marion spent several agonizing months hoping against hope that Bob had survived. Eventually she accepted that he had died. She remarried. Soon World War II broke out and this time the United States had no choice but to fight the fascists.
Merriman’s exploits, as well as the saga of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, remained buried for three decades after the close of World War II. It was the height of the Cold War and anti-communism in the United States. Although Merriman was an anti-fascist, the Republican cause had been championed by the U.S.S.R. and communism in general, which tainted all who fought for the Republican cause.
In the early 1980’s, Warren Lerude, a University of Nevada journalism professor and Pulitzer Prize winner convinced Marion to co-author American Commander In Spain. Marion had Bob’s diaries and a mental library full of memories. The book is really a love story and tribute to Bob’s passion for his country, for Marion, and for doing the right thing. He had nothing to gain materially from fighting on the Republican side. He fought because of his passion for freedom and his hatred of fascism. That passion and hatred cost him his life. Ernest Hemingway knew Bob Merriman when he was in Spain as a war correspondent. In tribute to Merriman, Hemingway would partially base the hero in For Whom The Bell Tolls, Robert Jordan, on Robert Hale Merriman. In this persona, we will always have a bit of Bob Merriman with us.
There were anti-fascist idealists, including several thousand Americans, who shunned all of the Republican labels and sought simply to fight the fascists. Robert Hale Merriman was one of them. A University of California Berkeley graduate student in economics, Merriman was on a fellowship to the Soviet Union, in company with his wife Marion, to study their economy when the Spanish Civil War broke out. His conscience drove him towards Spain. Marion reminded Bob that his true value to the world lay in his contributions as a scholar, not as a soldier. Eventually Spain won out and Bob headed for Spain and war.
The Republican side, Compared to Franco’s Nationalists, was ‘under’ in just about every important category—under manned, under equipped, under fed, under armed under trained, under led, and under organized. Bob, because he had completed the Army ROTC program at the University of Nevada and received a commission moved quickly up the ladder of command in the American volunteer brigade known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Merriman threw himself into training and leading his soldiers. In a very short time he found himself second in command officially, and for all practical purposes in command of the Brigade.
Merriman was seriously wounded in the shoulder while fighting. Recovery took several months. Marion joined him in Spain during his recovery and became the first and only female member of the Lincoln Brigade. Once recovered, Merriman returned to full duty. In early April 1938 while retreating, Merriman went missing in action. It is not known exactly what happened, but Merriman was likely captured and executed by the Nationalists. Marion spent several agonizing months hoping against hope that Bob had survived. Eventually she accepted that he had died. She remarried. Soon World War II broke out and this time the United States had no choice but to fight the fascists.
Merriman’s exploits, as well as the saga of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, remained buried for three decades after the close of World War II. It was the height of the Cold War and anti-communism in the United States. Although Merriman was an anti-fascist, the Republican cause had been championed by the U.S.S.R. and communism in general, which tainted all who fought for the Republican cause.
In the early 1980’s, Warren Lerude, a University of Nevada journalism professor and Pulitzer Prize winner convinced Marion to co-author American Commander In Spain. Marion had Bob’s diaries and a mental library full of memories. The book is really a love story and tribute to Bob’s passion for his country, for Marion, and for doing the right thing. He had nothing to gain materially from fighting on the Republican side. He fought because of his passion for freedom and his hatred of fascism. That passion and hatred cost him his life. Ernest Hemingway knew Bob Merriman when he was in Spain as a war correspondent. In tribute to Merriman, Hemingway would partially base the hero in For Whom The Bell Tolls, Robert Jordan, on Robert Hale Merriman. In this persona, we will always have a bit of Bob Merriman with us.
March 8, 2021
True story of Robert Merriman, a Berkeley grad student who fought and died in the Spanish Civil War, as told by his wife Marion. She does a good job telling the story of their lives, which took them to Moscow and then Spain, and she gives a very intimate portrait of the idealism and struggle that marked the Lincoln Brigade of American volunteers. I felt like I had been there.
January 24, 2021
Well written, engaging and thoughtful. Definitely an important addition to Spanish Civil War literature.
February 6, 2017
Hemingway's character, Robert Jordan, from "For Whom The Bell Tolls" is based on the person of Robert Hale Merriman, a real college professor who goes to Spain to fight Fascism during the Spanish Civil War. This book, co-written by Merriman's widow, provides a very personal perspective of the war is in part a love story. I was engaged by the presence of the "International Brigades" during this prelude to WWII. Hemingway visited these brigades often and became a personal friend of Mr. Merriman and his wife who was also a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Learned some history here, and gained new insight into Hemingway's work. I heartily recommend this book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews