diff --git a/git-am.sh b/git-am.sh
index c3bbd78eab..7c0bb6084b 100755
--- a/git-am.sh
+++ b/git-am.sh
@@ -88,10 +88,12 @@ It does not apply to blobs recorded in its index."
     # This is not so wrong.  Depending on which base we picked,
     # orig_tree may be wildly different from ours, but his_tree
     # has the same set of wildly different changes in parts the
-    # patch did not touch, so resolve ends up canceling them,
+    # patch did not touch, so recursive ends up canceling them,
     # saying that we reverted all those changes.
 
-    git-merge-resolve $orig_tree -- HEAD $his_tree || {
+    eval GITHEAD_$his_tree='"$SUBJECT"'
+    export GITHEAD_$his_tree
+    git-merge-recursive $orig_tree -- HEAD $his_tree || {
 	    if test -d "$GIT_DIR/rr-cache"
 	    then
 		git-rerere
@@ -99,6 +101,7 @@ It does not apply to blobs recorded in its index."
 	    echo Failed to merge in the changes.
 	    exit 1
     }
+    unset GITHEAD_$his_tree
 }
 
 prec=4
diff --git a/merge-recursive.c b/merge-recursive.c
index ca4f19e34d..bac16f577c 100644
--- a/merge-recursive.c
+++ b/merge-recursive.c
@@ -1248,21 +1248,6 @@ static int merge(struct commit *h1,
 	return clean;
 }
 
-static struct commit *get_ref(const char *ref)
-{
-	unsigned char sha1[20];
-	struct object *object;
-
-	if (get_sha1(ref, sha1))
-		die("Could not resolve ref '%s'", ref);
-	object = deref_tag(parse_object(sha1), ref, strlen(ref));
-	if (object->type != OBJ_COMMIT)
-		return NULL;
-	if (parse_commit((struct commit *)object))
-		die("Could not parse commit '%s'", sha1_to_hex(object->sha1));
-	return (struct commit *)object;
-}
-
 static const char *better_branch_name(const char *branch)
 {
 	static char githead_env[8 + 40 + 1];
@@ -1275,6 +1260,24 @@ static const char *better_branch_name(const char *branch)
 	return name ? name : branch;
 }
 
+static struct commit *get_ref(const char *ref)
+{
+	unsigned char sha1[20];
+	struct object *object;
+
+	if (get_sha1(ref, sha1))
+		die("Could not resolve ref '%s'", ref);
+	object = deref_tag(parse_object(sha1), ref, strlen(ref));
+	if (object->type == OBJ_TREE)
+		return make_virtual_commit((struct tree*)object,
+			better_branch_name(ref));
+	if (object->type != OBJ_COMMIT)
+		return NULL;
+	if (parse_commit((struct commit *)object))
+		die("Could not parse commit '%s'", sha1_to_hex(object->sha1));
+	return (struct commit *)object;
+}
+
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
 	static const char *bases[2];