Between 21 August and 3 September, three Marine battalions, including the 1st Raider Battalion, under Merritt A. Edson (Edson's Raiders), and the 1st Parachute Battalion from Tulagi and Gavutu went to Guadalcanal. These units added about 1,500 troops to the original 11,000 men defending Henderson Field. The 1st Parachute Battalion, which had many dead and wounded in the Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo in August, was placed under Edson's command.