The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1906-08-16
CAPT. NJ NEILL'S RANGERS
A Reunion OF TIE Survivors To Take
Place August rs.
FAMOUS CONFEDERATE TROOP
Mr.. John b. Fay's Account OF An
Organization That Kept the Fed
erai Busy Along The Potomac.

McNeills Rangers, Confederate
States Army, will be held at
Moorefeld, w. Va, on Wednes-
day, August 20, 1906. Mr.. John
B. Fay has prepared the following
sketch of the famous troop whose
exploits during the civil war elicit
ed special praise from Jefferson
Davis and Robert +. Lee on more
than one occasion:
John Hanson Mcneil, native
Of Hardy county, Virginia, raised
the company and was its first COM
mander. Being a resident of Mis-
souri,, during the early part of
the war, as captain of mounted
rihemen, he performed gallant ser
vice in that State under General
Price and was prominent in the
capture of Mulligan at Springfield.
He was soon after taken prisoner
himself and confined in St. Louis,
but escaped thence and safely
reached the Confederate lines in
Virginia. There ne secured au-
thority to enlist company for in
dependent service i'll connection
with the brigade of General I'm
boden, then in course Of formation,
and his earlier exploits were per
formed while nominally under
command of that officer.
When Imboden's command
was afterward mustered into regu-
lar service portion of McNeill's
men elected to go with it and
formed a new company, which,
under Capt. A. S. Scott became
part of the Eighteenth Virginia
Cavalry. The parent company
then reorganized with Mcneil
captain and his son, Jesse c. Nc
NELL, Isaac S. Welton and Ber-
nard J. Dolan, first, second and
junisr second lieutenants, respec-
lively. The ranks of the new
company, because of its active and
daring achievements, were rapidly
filled and Mcneil was soon at the
head of as gallant a body Of men
as ever drew blades in fight.
The company rarely mustered
more than IS men for duty at
any one time, but it had during
its two years eXistance nearly, if
, not quite, 200 names upon its
roster. The troop inflicted all i'm
mense amount of damage on the
enemy during its brilliant career
and kept large army on the qui
vive to defend the long line of the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad and
the upper Potomac border from its
daring incursions 1t is question
whether Mosby. with five times
the number of men, caused as much
damage to the common foe as was
inflicted by this single troop.
That McNeill managed to
keep his opponents along the Dor
der in a constant state Of anxiety
and alarm is evidenced by the fact
that General Kelley the Union
commander in his front, made in
cessant endeavOrs to crush him,
and in giving orders to subordi-
nate officers invariably repeated
his injunctions to kill, capture or
drive Mcneil out Of the country,
adding in one of his dispatches,
'We must do this before we can
expect quiet or safety along the
line of road.
"McNeill was a partisan leader
and like Mosby could accomplish
more with a handful of men than
many officers could with a regi-
ment. Always on the alert, per-
fectly familiar with the country in
which he operated, ever taking his
foe unawares, striking swift and
stunning blows when and where
least expected, resourceful in the
face Of greatest danger and never
caught a-napping Mcneil was a
veritable wizard of the saddle and
well deserved the title Of the
Marion Of the South Branch Val
ley the fairest land beneath the
sun and his favorite RENDEZVOUS"
1t will be of interest to know
that or1O,1J tLa NOVA ,,ro,,,;.,.-.