Three weeks later the Raiders were transferred to Guadalcanal to aid in its defense. Although his men were living at a bare subsistence level and ammunition was almost as scarce as food, "Red Mike" received permission to seek out and destroy the enemy. The Raiders proceeded to do this in a daring and well executed raid against an estimated one thousand well armed Japanese troops located at the Village of Tasimboko. The enemy forces were completely surprised and driven inland, abandoning their supplies, weapons, food and communications, all of which were destroyed, including a unit of artillery.
Defense of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal at that time consisted of positions on the beaches and both flanks. There was no defense at the rear of the Field where the only clear ground in the tangled, forbidding jungle was a grassy ridge several hundred yards long.
"Red Mike" believed that the Japanese forces dispersed at Tasimboko would attempt to strike the defenseless rear and capture the airfield in a bold stroke. Under the guise of seeking "rest and rehabilitation" for his men, he got the First Marine Division's permission to occupy the ridge.
Immediately he prepared to defend this position amid much grumbling from his tired men who affectionately nicknamed him "Mad Merritt the Morgue Master" because of his apparent eagerness for action. General Edson's plan was masterfully conceived. Supplies were so short that there was only a single strand of barbed wire to string in front of the advance positions. General Edson knew his men could not stop the Japanese in overwhelming numbers in a knock-down, drag-out action. Instead, he placed his positions far out on the ridge and designated pre-arranged lines in the rear for their withdrawal. It was sort of a "cushion" defense.
On September 11 and 12 the Japanese both bombed the ridge from high-level bombers and shelled it from cruisers. On the night of the 12th, the advance parties of the enemy struck, driving the Raiders from their advance positions. On the 13th, "Red Mike" organized his lines along the ridge closer to the airfield as planned.
That night at about 1900, the enemy force attacked in fanatical waves. First their numbers were thought to be a battalion or two. Actually it was a brigade without the support of the artillery which "Red Mike" had destroyed at Tasimboko.
The Raiders' right and left flanks soon folded under heavy enemy pressure. In the dark with practically no communications, General Edson personally reformed his lines on the forward slope of the last high ground protecting Henderson Field. There he knew it was do or die. "Red Mike" walked back and forth on the ridge that night personally rallying his men for combat which was often hand to hand after each attack. Dawn came and the Marines, although 144 men fewer than the 880 which had started the battle, still held that last bit of high ground. The Japanese had been repulsed with appalling casualties. Fifty percent of an estimated 3,450 troops.
"Red Mike," who had been personally exposed to heavy enemy fire for over ten hours, stood on the ridge that dawn, the sleeves of his shirt in shreds from bullets. Yet he had not been hit.
That ground became known as "Edson's Ridge" and later as "Bloody Ridge". The battle was one of the turning points of the war. If the Japanese had regained the airfield and kept it, the battle for Guadalcanal would have been lost and the war would have been delayed for months, possibly years.
For the now-famous action, "Red Mike" was awarded the Medal of Honor for "extraordinary heroism above and beyond the call to duty." For his exploits on both Tulagi and Guadalcanal he was also decorated with the Distinguished Service Order by Great Britain.
A few days later "Red Mike," who had been promoted to full Colonel, left the Raiders to take command of the Fifth Marines. He called his men together for a brief farewell to thank them for their magnificent efforts. Dirty, dog-tired Raiders, hardened to war, and to its killings, openly wept."