Captain John Hanson McNeill

In cooperation with the Hampshire County Convention and Visitor Bureau and various local civil war historians, HistoricHampshire.org is endeavoring to create a resource for those studying the Civil War in Hampshire County. This article was written by and is used with permission of Woodrow G. Simmons of Hardy County. We appreciate his offering this information to us.

Captain John Hanson McNeill was the best know native of Hardy County to serve in the Civil War. The son of Strother and Amy Pugh McNeill, he was born June 12, 1815, about a mile southeast of the present day bridge that carries State Route 28 across the South Branch of the Potomac River just north of Moorefield. His father died when he was only three and a half years old, and “Hanse” as he was called by family and friends grew to manhood in the South Branch Valley.

After his marriage to Jemima Harness Cunningham he took his family west, seeking more land. After several moves he settled in Daviess County Missouri. There he purchased a 500 acre farm where he raised the only herd of Shorthorn Durham cattle in that area. He became a well respected member of the community and was active in the Methodist Church, becoming a lay minister.

At the beginning of the Civil War he commanded a company of cavalry and took part in at least four battles in Missouri. At Lexington, Missouri, his son, George, was killed, and he was severely wounded. Later he and his son, Jesse, were captured. They later escaped and made their way back to Hardy County. There he organized a company of cavalry that would become known as “McNeill’s Rangers”. Many men from Hardy and surrounding counties served in it.

Although officially a part of Colonel John D. Imboden's Northwestern Brigade, they often operated independently and became the scourge of Union supply lines in this area. They also took part in larger campaigns such as Gettysburg and the Jones-Imboden Raid through West Virginia.

In early August, 1864, after the Chambersburg raid he advised his commanding officers not to divide their forces and camp on both sides of the South Branch near where the present bridge crosses the South Branch of the Potomac on Rt. 28 north of Moorefield. They ignored him. This resulted in the Confederates being surprised and defeated by Union forces with some of the most intense fighting taking place just downstream from the bridge. Known as the Battle of Moorefield it was the largest battle to take place in Hardy County.

In an early morning attack on Oct. 3, 1864, Captain McNeill was wounded in a successful attack on a Union encampment at Meem’s Bottom, Virginia. He died from his wound five weeks later on November 10, 1864, in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He was first buried there with full Military and Masonic honors. Several months later his men returned his body to Hardy County for reburial. He is buried in Olivet Cemetery in Moorefield next to the Monument to Confederate Dead, surrounded by the graves of other Confederate soldiers.