page_title: McNeill's Rangers
section_title: 1865
hierarchical_section_title: McNeill's Rangers / Operations / 1865
caption_attribution_description: The McNeill Raid, from The story of American heroism: Thrilling narratives of personal adventures during the great Civil War as told by the medal winners and roll of honor men. Chicago, New York: The Werner Co., 1896. Accompanying text: "They went down the river, passing on the outskirts of a part of their army then sound asleep, and soon to a camp guard and were challenged with "Who comes there?" To which McNeill replied, "Company B, 3rd Ohio Cavalry with the countersign, and we are in a hurry." Instead of requiring the countersign, the officer on duty inquired "What's up?" McNeill responded: "Oh! old granny Kelley had a nightmare or bad dream that the Rebs are about to come down on him, and he is sending us out this bitter weather to scout the other side of the river. I sometimes wish they would catch him. Don't you think he's a regular old granny in his nervousness, whenever he hears there are a few Johnnies across the river?" "Yes I do! every time I am put on outpost duty such weather as this." "Well, let us pass; we want to get back as soon as possible," and away they went at a gallop. General Kelley told me that during this colloquy, Crook, who was at his side, kept nudging him with his knee, and chucklingat his expense. A similar chat occurred at the last outpost they had to pass, where McNeill, still personating the Ohio captain, said, "I wish that General Grant would remove granny Kelley from Cumberland, and put Crook in command," and in this wish the outpost officer concurred, when Crook laughed audibly and again punched Kelley's leg next to him; and from that time till they got to Richmond, Crook lost no opportunity to poke fun at him. But after they had crossed into Virginia, he said McNeill and all his followers treated them with the utmost courtesy and consideration, but compelled them to ride at breakneck speed to escape apprehended pursuit. When they halted at a farmhouse for an early dinner, McNeill and his men had ridden over sixty miles since supper the night before. And after a hasty meal and horse feed, they remounted and rapidly made for the mountains toward General Early's quarters in the Shenandoah Valley, and eluded all pursuit. The total distance ridden by the Rangers, from starting on the evening of February 20, till camped in the mountains on the night of the 21st, was ninety miles, in about thirty hours."
context_page_description: McNeill's Rangers was an independent Confederate military force commissioned under the Partisan Ranger Act by the Confederate Congress during the American Civil War. The 210 man unit was formed from Company E of the 18th Virginia Cavalry and the First Virginia Partisan Rangers. After the repeal of the Act on February 17, 1864, McNeill's Rangers was one of two partisan forces allowed to continue operation, the other being 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry. Both of these guerrilla forces operated in the western counties of Virginia and West Virginia. The Rangers were known to exercise military discipline when conducting raids. However, many Union generals considered Captain John Hanson McNeill and his men to be "bushwhackers," not entitled to protection when captured, as was the case with other prisoners of war.
context_section_description: In January 1865, Major Harry Gilmor came to West Virginia for recruiting and staging attacks against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; he used The Willows near Moorefield, West Virginia, as his command post. The McNeill Rangers used nearby Mill Island and McNeill family-owned Willow Wall as hospitals. General Philip Sheridan received intelligence about Gilmor's whereabouts and a scouting party captured him in bed on February 4, 1865.
  On the night of February 21, 1865, Jesse McNeill and 65 Rangers traveled 60 miles behind enemy lines to Cumberland, Maryland. Without being detected, they captured both Union Major General George Crook and Brig. Gen. Benjamin Franklin Kelley from their beds. They evaded pursuing Federal cavalry and delivered the captured generals to Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early, who forwarded the prisoners to Richmond and commissioned Jesse McNeil as Captain of the Rangers. In the words of Gen. Sheridan,
  The capture of Gilmore caused the disbandment of the party he had organized at the "camp-meeting," most of the men he had recruited returning to their homes discouraged, though some few joined the bands of Woodson and young Jesse McNeil, which, led by the latter, dashed into Cumberland, Maryland, at 3 o'clock on the morning of the 21st of February and made a reprisal by carrying off General Crook and General Kelly, and doing their work so silently and quickly that they escaped without being noticed.
  On May 8, 1865, the McNeill's Rangers surrendered and were paroled.
caption: "McNeill, still personating the Ohio captain, said, "I wish that General Grant would remove granny Kelley from Cumberland, and put Crook in command," and in this wish the outpost officer concurred, when Crook laughed audibly and again punched Kelley's leg next to him; and from that time till they got to Richmond, Crook lost no opportunity to poke fun at him."[14]:547–548
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