 The ball cut a portion of the heel and lodged under the ankle joint where it now remains and has ever since disabled him from performing manual labor.” Merritt was discharged on December 22, 1863, but he re-enlisted on January 22, 1864, as a Lieutenant in the 23rd US Colored Troops Infantry Regiment leading a group of African-American soldiers.They were the first of the Colored Troops to be engaged in battle.Merritt was captured by Confederate soldiers on July 30, 1864, at the Battle of the Crater in Petersburg, Virginia, (which was depicted in the 2003 film, Cold Mountain.)