McNeill was known as a mild-tempered, semi-literate, industrious farmer and the son of Scottish parents. He was six feet tall, straight as an arrow, very heavy-built, brave, sharp- witted and kind-hearted. His grey beard flowed over his broad chest to this waist. His eyes were blue and he wore a large broad-brimmed hat ornamented with a plume. He married Jernima Cunningham in 1837 and took his wife first to Kentucky and then to Missouri where they acquired a 300-acre farm. When the civil war started, Governor Claiborne F. Jackson of Missouri commissioned John McNeill to outfit a militia company and to join with General Sterling Price. McNeill and his sons fought with Price in several battles in Carthage, Wilson's Creek, and Lexington. In this latter engagement Hanse was wounded and tragically his son George was killed.
In time McNeill went to Richmond and obtained permission to raise an independent command to harass Union troops and to offer protection to pro-southern residents. Hanse was granted permission and he recruited a company of partisan rangers who were assigned to the First Regiment of Partisan Rangers and eventually became part of the Northwestern Brigade. There was disagreement by both North and South as to the legitimacy of "guerrilla" organizations. The North often referred to these groups as "bushwhackers" and, if they were taken prisoner, were not exchanged or often hanged. Indeed, some of the partisan units existed for personal gain and did give a bad name to organizations like McNeill and Mosby.
There were certainly risks to the partisans but there were also some rewards. A soldier did not have to partake of camp life and often lived at home, with friends or occasionally camped in some mountain retreat. Meals were far better than army rations. Any arms or munitions captured and delivered to the quartermaster would be sold at full value and distributed to the individuals of the partisan unit. This could be thousands of dollars at a time when the Confederate private was being paid $12 a month.
This writer is presenting this web page for several reasons, one being that a group of men of this fame, bravery and audacity should be recognized. Secondly, since I am some distant relative, I felt an obligation to impart some information about the men and their raids. Last, I hope by giving a few enticing bits of information you may decide to check out some books at your local library and read the full story of McNeill's Rangers. On this page I am going to present only two of McNeill's raids.
On May 3, 1864, McNeill and 60 rangers rode from Hardy County into Union territory. On the 5th, they arrived at dawn, crossed the Potomac River and were soon in control of Bloomington, Maryland that is on the main line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. McNeill and 50 of his men rode two miles east to Piedmont, West Virginia, which contained machine shops and stores of railroad supplies. The Federal garrison surrendered without a fight. The rangers then destroyed seven machine shops, nine locomotives and more than 100 fully loaded railroad cars. Finally, six additional steam engines were placed under full power and sent east down the tracks toward New Creek (now Keyser, West Virginia). All told, in less than one hour, McNeill's partisans had destroyed approximately a million dollars of Federal property.
Hanse's last raid occurred on October 3, 1865 when the partisans surprised a Union encampment at Meem's Bottom near Mr. Jackson, Virginia. The raiders created so much havoc in fifteen minutes that the Union force decided to surrender. The fighting ended and the rangers found Hanse seriously wounded. He was cared for the home of a Methodist minister, Addison Weller. A Union surgeon told Captain John McNeill that he had once
