Robert Hale Merriman (November 17, 1908 – c. April 2, 1938) was an American doctoral student who fought with the Republican forces in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

In the summer of 1936, the Merrimans toured Central Europe, and a stay in Vienna gave them a sobering firsthand view of Nazism.

[1] Against his wife's wishes and the advice of their friends, he left for Spain before his scholarship year was up to volunteer with the Republican side.

On the day of April 2, they attacked the Nationalist forces in Gandesa in an attempt to break through in the direction of Corbera d'Ebre to Republican lines, but were repulsed.

On the night of April 2, Merriman led another attempt to break through Nationalist lines, this time via a cattle trail.

A group including Merriman, brigade commissar David Doran, Lieutenant Edgar James Cody, John (Ivan) Gerlach and Joe Brandt inadvertently stumbled into a Nationalist encampment.

Precisely what happened next to Merriman is unknown, but he, Doran, Cody and others apparently blundered further into the encampment and were either killed then or executed after being captured.