William McNeill (abt. 1742 - abt. 1799)

Descendants

Died about 1799 at about age 57 in Bladen County, North Carolina, USA

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Biography

William McNeill was born about 1742.

From an affidavit filed by his daughter Eliza McNeill Taylor for a Widow's Pension: "We do hereby certify that Elizabeth McNeill (Daughter of William McNeill and Elizabeth McNeill, his lawful wife, both of Oak Forest, Bladen County, North Carolina) .." Signed by Daniel McNeill, Ann Mac Diarmid, and Angus Macdiarmid.

William McNeill ... He passed away about 1799.

[Oak Forest near Clarkton, NC]

Military Service

Major-General William Gibbs McNeill was born, Oct. 3, 1801, in Wilmington, N. C. His great-grandfather, a member of a Highland elan, after distinguishing himself at the fatal Battle of Culloden, emi grated to North America, in 1746, with the celebrated Flora Macdonald. His father, Dr. Donald McNcill, after recciving his education in the Medical School at Edinburgh, served with the British Army in the West Indies, and before the American Revolution settled in Wilmington, N. C, where he attained considerable reputation as a physician. Young McNcill reccived his early education at Newtown, Long Island, N. Y., whence he was removed, under the charge of the Rev. Dr. Wyatt, of Baltimore, to the Episcopal Seminary, with the intention of fitting him for the Church ; but having been taken by his early friend, General Joseph G. Swift, then Chief Engineer of the Army, to West Point, the boy expressed a wish to abandon the gown for the sword. Through the influence of his patron, President Madison readily gave him a Cadet's appointment, and he entered the Military Academy July 26, 1814. Here he at once developed decided talents, and became a great favorite of the Acting Superintendent, Captain Partridge, who took him to his own quarters and instructed him in Hutton's Mathematics. Soon after, he was taught Descriptive Gcometry and Engineering by Captain Crozet, who had been graduated from the celebrated French Polytechnic School, and had recently been appointed a Professor at West Point. Among his intimate associates at the Academy were George W. Whistler and William H. Swift, with both of whom he subsequently became elosely connected, not only by professional but by marriage ties. On the very day, July 17, 1817, on which Major Thayer had been ordered to supersede Captain Partridge in command of the Military Academy, all Cadets deemed sufficiently instructed were graduated from the institution. McNcill, bcing of the number, was on the same day promoted to be a Third Lient, in the Corps of Artillery, and imme diately after was assigned to topographical duty under Colonel Abert on the Survey of the Atlantic Coast, and of sites for fortifications on the Gulf of Mexico. While here, General Jackson was carrying on war against the Seminole Indians, and had scized St. Mark's and Pensacola, then Spanish possessions. At once McNcill, in his fiery zeal, volunteered as Aide-de-Camp to " Old Hickory," and subsequently as Acting Adju tant General to General Gaines. After successive promotions to Second and First Lient, of Artillery, McNcill was appointed, Jan. 27, 1823, to be an Assistant Topograph ical Engineer, attached to the General Staff with the rank of Bvt. Cap tain. Soon after, in 1824, under Secretary Calhoun's Internal Im provement System, he was assigned to duty on the survey of the summit division of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and in 1827 of the James River and Kanawha Canal. In this latter year the railroad mania began to rage in this country. At that time there were existing only a few insignificant local short roads, aggregating in length less than twenty miles, and there were few educated civil engineers in the United States to conduct Larger works. Under these circumstances, the Government adopted the wise policy of loaning officers of the Army, scientifically educated at the Military Academy, to assist railroad companies in carrying out more ambitious projects. In this manner our army engineers became the pioneers in railroad construction, and the educators or an able body of civil engineers, who, to this day, have continued the inherited traditions, methods, dis cipline, esprit-de-corps, and high bearing of thcir distinguished prede cessors. The Baltimore aud Ohio was the first important railroad undertaken in this country. In the annual report of the company, of Oct. 1, 1827, it is stated that " several able and efficient members of the Topographi cal Corps have been detailed in the service of the company. These officers [Captain William Gibbs McNcill, Lientenants Joshua Barney, Isaac Trimble, Richard E. Hazard, William Cook, Walter Gwynn, and John L. Dillahanty, all graduates of the Military Academy] have ex amined various routes from the city of Baltimore to the valley of the Potomac, and along that ravine as far as Cumberland. They are now engaged in a general reconnoissance of the country between the Potomac and Ohio rivers." Subsequently, the Directors of the Company very fully acknowledged thcir obligations to the General Government " for the unceasing and cordial support which the company continues to de rive from the operation of that liberal and enlightened policy to which, from the commencement of thcir undertaking, they have felt themselves so much indebted." The definite location of this road, between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills, was intrusted to McNcill and his Army assistants, by whom, says the report of July 7, 1828, " it has been accomplished with a degree of precision highly satisfactory to the Board." Among Mc Ncill s assistants this year was Gcorge W. Whistler. Similarity of tastes induced a firm friendship between these men, who were subsequently en gaged or consulted on numerous great works of internal improvement in this country. This Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first in America designed for general transportation purposes, but without any idea of operating it by steam. Its construction was commenced, July 4, 1828, on McNcill's location, the first stone being laid, at the Baltimore terminus, with great ceremony by the last surviving signer of the Deelaration of Independ ence, — the venerable Charles Carroll, then ninety years of age. The following year Stephenson, with his experimental locomotive " Rocket," * ran ten miles an hour over the straight and level Liverpool and Man chester Railroad ; but it remained for that most useful citizen and great philanthropist, Peter Cooper, to devise a locomotive to make, Aug. 28, 1830, the first land-journey by steam in America, at the rate of cighteen miles an hour, over the Baltimore and Ohio Road, having a very undu lating surface and many sharp curves of short radins. In November, 1828, Jonathan Knight, McNcill, and Whistler were sent to England to examine minutely all the railroads of Great Britain, and to avail themselves of all the knowledge and experience such works could give. They reccived a cordial welcome from President Telford, of the Institution of Civil Engineers, through whom they were introduced to the Stephensons, Walker, Locke, Hartley, and other eminent engineers, whose friendly and professional intercourse they enjoyed till they re turned, laden with much useful information. In 1830 a disruption of the Board of Engineers of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (composed of Major Long, of the Topographical Engineers, Jonathan Knight, Civil Engineer, and Captain McNcill, Top. Engineers) took place ; and McNcill, with his able associate, Lient. Whistler, left this road and took charge of the projected Baltimore and Susquchanna Rail road, the former continuing to be the company's Chief Engineer till 1836. McNcill, at the time of leaving the Baltimore and Ohio Road, had ac quired such a high professional reputation that, till his resignation from the Army, Nov. 23, 1837, he superintended the survey and construction of a large number of roads, the chief of which were the Paterson and Hudson River (now southern terminus of Erie Railroad), 1831-34 ; Boston and Providence, 1832-35 ; Providence and Stonington, 1832-37 ; Taunton and New Bedford, 1835 ; Fayetteville and Yadkin, 1835 ; Long Island, 1835-30 ; Western, of Massachusetts (now Boston and Albany), 1836-37, ete. After his resignation, he continued to be the Chief Engi neer of the last-named road till 1840 ; was appointed Chief Engineer of the State of Gcorgia in 1837 ; and had charge, till 1840, of the projected railroad from Cincinnati to Charleston, then a stupendous undertaking ; and was the President of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 1842-43. On the breaking out of the " Dorr Rebellion " of Rhode Island, in 1842, the so-styled " law and order party," in casting about for a leader, selected McNcill, who was commissioned a Major-General in the State Militia. Under the old Constitution, which was the charter granted in 1663 by Charles II., the right to vote was limited to men who possessed a certain amount of real estate, and to thcir eldest sons. In 1841 the suffrage party, under the leadership of Dorr, called a delegate Stato Convention to form a new Constitution, under which he was elected to be Governor. The charter, or law and order party, elaimed that the whole proceeding was seditious, and that the vote for a new Constitution was fraudulent. Hence the loyal government, which met at Newport, re sisted the Dorr usurpation organized, May 3, 1842, at Providence. Both sides appealed to arms, but General McNcill conducted the movements of the military forces of the legal government with such prudence and

• In the Patent Unseam of South Kensington, London, Is still to be seen the old "Rocket," — the forerunner of the thousands of iron horses which now traverse the whole world.

caution that the rebellion ceased May 28, three days after the bloodless battle of Chepachet. Dorr, put to flight, was soon after arrested, con victed of treason, and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but was released from confinement in five years. In 1844, after peace had been completely established in Rhode Island, President Tyler appointed McNcill Chief Engineer of the Dry Docks at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, N. Y. After planning them, and making con siderable progress in thcir construction, President Polk, in 1845, to gratify the Dorr Democrats, removed him from his office. In 1846, soon after the breaking out of the Mexican War, McNcill re paired to Washington to obtain the appointment of Brigadier-General, for which he was highly recommended, but the Dorr influence was still too great to be successfully resisted. His prolonged labors having severely tried his powers, he in 1851 visited Europe for the restoration of his health. While in England he was elected a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers of London, on several occasions took part in thcir professional discussions, and was always treated with courtcous consideration. While in London McNcill was actively engaged upon some great American mining projects, when he suddenly returned to his home in Brooklyn, N. Y., only to draw his last breath, Feb. 16, 1853, amidst his relatives and friends, the latter forming a large cirele, for he had rendered himself greatly beloved by his kind, affable, and impressive manner, and the real services he could and did render to many. The President of the Institution of Civil Engineers of London, in his annual address of Dec. 20, 1853, says : " It is a subject of congratulation that the number of de ceased members during the year is unusually small ; there will, however, be found the names of two gallant officers of the British and United States armies, who to thcir military talents united great aptitudes for engineering pursuits, and thcir loss is deplored, not only for thcir individ ual worth, but for the public services they might still have rendered thcir respective countries." McNcill, one of them, had not reached the age of fifty-two when he died. General McNcill was a kind, liberal, open-hearted man, fond of his friends, generous to the needy, and complaisant to all ; and, to young engineers, was the liberal patron, ever ready to assist them with his advice, or promote them in thcir profession. In his early years he was devoted to his work ; had a quick topographical eye for reconnoissance ; and, almost at a glance, could survey the adaptability of ground to practi cal purposes. But, having no constructive capacity whatever, he relied entirely upon his intelligent assistants for all the details, accessories, and machinery for railroad-building. As he advanced in reputation he grew bolder in the exercise of his natural gifts for diplomacy in shaping, and energy in controlling, the springs of human action. Possessing a fine, manly form, an engaging, sympathetic presence, polished and winning manners, a elear head in which was a plausible tongue, be with a ready eloquence carried captive the goodwill and convictions of all with whom he had to deal, and often secured the success of many doubtful proj ects which, but for his individual advocacy, would have been aban doned. He was a perfect man of the world, high-spirited, a born leader, self-willed, and tenacious of purpose, but, withal, possessed infinite adroitness, and an almost intuitive knowledge of the proelivities of his fellows. His tact and skill in managing men ; his faculty of appro priating others' talents and labors, making them appear his own ; and his invisible and subtle influence in magnetizing and managing boards of directors, were most wonderful. This he considered the masterly engi neering of the boldest projects, — to play the lord paramount while stock holders subscribed shares, and his professional assistants, of far superior engineering attainments, carried out bis magnificent schemes in obedience to his imperious edicts, the results of which were presented to the world in able reports, drawn up in manly, powerful style, and with a masterly grasp of the whole subject involved. Altogether, McNcill was a remark able man, and the country owes him a deep debt of gratitude for his agency in the initiation of our grand system of Internal Improvements.^[1]

Sources

Pension Applications For Widows and Family of British Military Officers, 1776-1881 for Archibald Taylor Loyal American and Canadian Corps S-Z, WO/42/63

1. ↑ Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point N.Y., Volume 1, pg 162-166