John McNeil John McNeil ( February 14 , 1813 – June 8 , 1891 ) was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War . He was most noted for his role in the Palmyra Massacre and other acts of alleged brutality . Early life and career . McNeil was born in Halifax , Nova Scotia , to parents descended from Tories who had fled the American Revolution . He received a common school education , and then learned the hatter ' s trade in Boston , Massachusetts . He engaged unsuccessfully in the business first in New York City and subsequently for twenty years in St . Louis , Missouri . He prospered there , though he lost his fortune to Southern repudiation as the war began . He was a member of the Missouri legislature , 1844 – 45 , and president of the Pacific Insurance Company , 1855 - 61 . Civil War . When the war began , General Sterling Price of the Missouri Volunteer Militia and pro - secession Governor of Missouri Claiborne Jackson counted on McNeil ' s support , as he was known as a strong Democrat and closely allied with Southern men . On May 8 , 1861 , however , McNeil enlisted in the Union volunteers and was immediately made captain of a company . Shortly afterwards , he was promoted to colonel of the 3rd Regiment , U . S . Reserve Corps . On May 10 , 1861 , he commanded some troops at the notorious Camp Jackson Affair at the present day Frost Campus of St . Louis University . The Missouri militia had been called up by the governor for drill . Union supporters feared they might attack the St . Louis Arsenal . Captain Nathaniel Lyon , aware that the governor had secretly had artillery shipped from the Confederacy to the militia , surrounded the State troops and forced their surrender . Subsequently , as the prisoners were being marched downtown a riot began . Union troops - mostly green German volunteers - fired into a crowd . Most of the 28 killed were civilians although some militia and some Union soldiers died too . On July 17 , McNeil with about 600 men defeated the State forces under General David B . Harris at Fulton , Missouri . He was then placed in command of the city of St . Louis by General John C . Frémont . On August 3 , McNeil was commissioned colonel of the Nineteenth Missouri Volunteers ( " Lyon Regiment " ) to which he had been named by General Lyon . He resigned in December to accept a colonelcy in the State troops , with the command of a district on the Kansas state line . He spent the winter organizing forces and protecting the Union citizens . He returned to St . Louis in the spring of 1862 and took over a cavalry regiment , with command of the District of Northeast Missouri , and the special charge of clearing the area of guerrilla s — notably , those flocking to Joseph C . Porter . He spent the summer in pursuit of Porter , who had been ordered into the region to recruit troops to be sent into the Confederacy for training , as well as to generally disrupt Union operations . McNeil decisively defeated Porter at the Battle of Kirksville , and was lightly wounded in the action . In the aftermath of the fighting , he ordered the execution of fifteen allegedly paroled Confederates , charges which have been derided by some , and an action which would be held against him by others , particularly in light of his actions at Palmyra ( see below ) . He also ordered the execution of Frisby McCullough , an action which was also generally criticized , but which he just as staunchly defended . The Palmyra Massacre . His subsequent campaign in Monroe County , Missouri , was also regarded by some as excessively brutal and indiscriminate . He himself said that “ where a Union man could not live in peace , a secessionist should not . ” He concluded his campaign on September 14 , taking Palmyra after its abandonment by Porter , and avenging the abduction and presumptive murder of Union loyalist ( and alleged informer ) Andrew Allsman by executing ten Confederate prisoners in what came to be known as the " Palmyra Massacre . " McNeil was criticized even by Union sympathizers for the act , and excoriated in the American and European press . However , " Harper ’ s Weekly " quoted a defender : " These measures were severe , but not from the character of General McNeil : he will receive the applause of all earnest patriots for treating treason as it deserves . The fruit of his policy is pointedly exhibited where he has ruled . Before his advent murders and all lesser crimes were frequent , for no fault of the sufferers except that they were true to their country and to God . Now no more peaceful , stable , and Union - abiding people are to be found than those who live in Northeast Missouri . Jefferson Davis is thirsting for the blood of the brave General , and his coadjutors in the North are maligning General McNeil , fabricating statements of his brutality , and even asserting the two - fold falsehood that the wife of Allsman petitioned that the rebels might not be executed , and that the old man has since returned . But he will bear such calumnies , and live to reap grateful tributes . " It was true that Confederate President Jefferson Davis had threatened to execute ten Union prisoners unless McNeil was handed over to the Confederacy , but the threat was not carried out . It was also true that a number of local Union - supporters had pleaded with McNeil for the lives of the captives ( Allsman ’ s wife not among them ) . The local loyalist paper however supported McNeil : " The madness of rebellion has become so deep seated that ordinary methods of cure are inadequate . " ( " Palmyra Courier " , October 18 , 1862 ) and McNeil himself would respond years later " . . . cherishing , as I do , the firm conviction that my action was the means of saving lives and property of hundreds of loyal men and women , I feel that my act was the performance of a public duty . " ( July 1889 response to an article in " The Century " magazine ) . In any event , the act earned him the unshakeable title of “ Butcher of Palmyra . ” As a pair , McNeil and his nemesis , Joseph C . Porter , illustrate particularly well the horrors of the war and the difficulty of moral evaluation ; it seems likely that the culpability of each was minimized by his own side and exaggerated by the other . Later campaigns . McNeil was made brigadier general to rank from November 29 , 1862 . In the spring of 1863 , McNeil held Cape Girardeau with 1 , 700 men against Gen . John Sappington Marmaduke ' s force of 10 , 000 . In 1864 he was appointed to command the district of Rolla , Missouri , and , with the assistance of Gen . John B . Sanborn , Clinton B . Fisk and E . B . Brown , he saved the capital from Price ' s army . Afterwards he joined his cavalry force with that of General Brown and participated in the campaign which led to the defeat of Price ' s army at the Second Battle of Newtonia in October . During the Battle of Westport , McNeil was relieved of command for " cowardice and failure to attack the enemy " by General Alfred Pleasonton . He then commanded the district of Central Missouri until April 12 , 1865 , when he resigned . McNeil was given the brevet rank of major general of volunteers in recognition of faithful and meritorious services during the war , to date from the day of his resignation . Postbellum career . Subsequently , McNeil was clerk of the criminal court in St . Louis County , Missouri 1865 - 67 ; sheriff of the county , 1866 – 70 , and clerk of the criminal court again , 1875 - 76 . He was in 1876 commissioner to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia , was an inspector in the U . S . Indian service in 1878 and 1882 , and at the time of his death was superintendent of the United States Post Office , St . Louis branch . He died in his chair , in his office at St . Louis , and was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery ( Block 35 , Lot 1103 ) . His monument carries the verse " Soldier , rest ; thy warfare o ' er , Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking . "