Sketches of McNeill's exploits, which have appeared from time to time, have passed by with slight mention of the most tragic event in his career - that in which the daring leader met his fate at Mt. Jackson, Virginia, October 3, 1864. At the request of the surviving officers and many of the private members of McNeill's Command, the following account is furnished by one who participated in that brief but eventful campaign.
The Command was known as McNeill's Partisan Rangers, commissioned by the Confederate authorities, and organized by Captain McNeill, in the summer of 1862. His rallying point was Moorefield, Hardy County, West Virginia, but the records show that his operations ranged through the counties of Hardy, Hampshire, Mineral, Grant and Pendleton in West Virginia, and into Maryland, Pennsylvania and the Valley of Virginia. His roster scarcely reached two hundred men, and his active strength was usually limited to one-fourth that number, and yet he threatened in rapid succession so many strategic points occupied by the enemy, it is safe to say that, from first to last, he held at bay twenty-five thousand Federals who otherwise would have gone to strengthen the forces in front of General Lee. Considering the actual number of his fighting force, his captures, especially of prisoners, will compare favorably with those of any other Confederate leader.
