McNeill’s Rangers

John Hanson “Hanse” McNeill was born near Moorefield, Virginia on June 12, 1815. He married Jemima Cunningham in 1837 and was a successful farmer. McNeill moved to Kentucky and then Missouri where he was living when the Civil War broke out. At age 46 he organized a company of Confederate Cavalry along with his three oldest sons, William, George and Jessie. They fought at Carthage and Wilson’s Creek. At the battle of Lexington, Missouri Hanse was severely wounded, and his son George killed. While at home recruiting he and Jessie were arrested and imprisoned. They escaped and moved with their family back to Hardy County, Virginia. In April of 1862 the Confederate government passed the Partisan Ranger Act. Colonel John Imboden was raising the First Regiment of the Virginia Partisan Rangers to operate in Western Virginia and McNeill raised a company to serve in Imboden’s Rangers. The Union troops they encountered most were commanded by Brigadier General Benjamin Franklin Kelley, especially the Ringgold Cavalry Battalion from western Pennsylvania. A marker below in Petersburg, WV summarizes his life.

McNeill by the end of March 1863 had recruited about 55 men. At one time or another about 260 men were members of McNeill’s Rangers. They operated out of Moorefield and at times Harrisonburg. From Moorefield they could easily launch raids on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. McNeill planned a raid to destroy the railroad bridge over the Cheat River. The plan was so well thought of that Generals Grumble Jones and John Imboden decided to expand it and it was called the Jones-Imboden Raid. McNeill’s men were part of Jones’ column. They were attached to Colonel Asher Harman’s 12th VA Cavalry that destroyed the B&O Railroad Bridge in Oakland, Maryland. They served in the Gettysburg Campaign. In August 1863 Mrs. McNeill and her infant son were returning from a trip to Ohio when they were arrested in Maryland and imprisoned at Camp Chase, Ohio.

The marker below describes McNeill’s attack on a Union foraging expedition in April of 1863 near Fort Mill Ridge south of Romney.

In May of 1864 McNeill’s Raiders once again targeted the B&O Railroad at Piedmont destroying over $1,000,000 of equipment in less than an hour. The next month another attack on a wagon train near Petersburg McNeill’s men led to the death of Lieutenant Bernard Dolan of the Raiders interpreted on the marker below.

Hanse McNeill’s last raid is summarized in the markers below. He and a small group of about 30 attacked about 100 men of the 8th OH Cavalry that were guarding the Meems Bottom Bridge. The Ohioans were driven off, but McNeill was seriously wounded with a bullet near his spine. It was thought to have been a friendly fire incident. He was taken to the home of Reverend Addison Weller (the Rude House) shown below. McNeill knew he was going to die and in order to conceal his identity the family shaved off his beard to change his appearance. Jessie McNeill rode the 50 miles to Hardy County to get his mother and they returned to the Weller House.

On direct questioning by Union officers McNeill confirmed his identity. Union doctors examined him and agreed that the wound was mortal. This is interpreted in the Civil War Trails marker below.

Before he could be moved further behind Union lines a group of Confederate soldiers put him into a carriage and transported him to Hill’s Hotel in Harrisonburg. He survived there for about another two weeks and died on November 10, 1864.