150 years ago today George McClellan ordered Joseph Hooker’s corps of the Union Army of the Potomac to cross Antietam Creek at the north bridge near Sharpsburg, Maryland, where the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was congregating. There was little fighting on the 16th, but after nightfall Colonel Hugh McNeil of the Pennsylvania “Bucktails” was killed as he led his regiment against some rebels.
From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1862:
Death of Col. McNeil.
A telegraph dispatch from the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac gives intelligence of the death of Colonel MCNEIL, the commander of the justly celebrated “Bucktail” regiment, while leading a charge at the head of his men, near Antietam Creek.
HUGH WATSON MCNEIL was a son of Rev. Archibald McNeil, a Cameronian clergyman, and was born in Seneca County N.Y., in 1860. He was educated at Yale College, and entered upon the study of the law in the office of Clarence W. Seward, at Auburn. In 1857 he commenced practice in this city, but was obliged to abandon his profession two years afterward by reason of his health. He removed to Warren County, Pennsylvania, and engaged in banking. In 1860 he made the tour of that State stumping for Lincoln and Hamlin. He was an eloquent and effective orator.
Upon the breaking out of the rebellion he enlisted as a private in a company known as “wildcats,” commanded by Captain Stone, which was afterward incorporated with the famous Bucktail regiment. In a short time he was chosen first lieutenant, and then captain. In this capacity he led the regiment in a magnificent bayonet charge at Drainsville. Upon the resignation of E. Joy Morris, the colonel of the Bucktails, Charles J. Biddle, was elected to Congress from the Second District of Pennsylvania, and captain McNeil was chosen his successor, overstepping Lieutenant Colonel Kane, now Brigadier general, who was not a popular officer.
While the regiment was lying at Fredericksburg, in McDowel[l]’s corps, Colonel McNeil was prostrated by typhoid fever, and did not rejoin his regiment till after the repulse of General McClellan before Richmond. He engaged with enthusiasm in all the subsequent movements.
The Pennsylvania Bucktails accompanied General Hooker in the recent expedition up the Potomac in quest of S[t]onewall Jackson. On Tuesday they came up with the enemy under the command of General Lee, near Sharpsburg. The Federal Troops were disposed in the order of battle, General Hooker’s corps on the extreme right. In the afternoon they crossed Antietam Creek, three miles east of Keetsville. The Bucktails were at the front. The action commenced at dark and lasted two hours. Colonel McNeil had just charged upon the rebel forces, driving them back half a mile, when he received his death wound.
Col. McNeil was not married. His father and four sisters survive him. He was a daring and intrepid officer, a generous friend and kinsman, and was cordially esteemed wherever he was known. He was the idol of his family and regiment, and his loss cannot be replaced.
Eve. Post.
Col. McNeil was buried with military honors at Auburn on Tuesday last.
There is quite a lot of contradictory information about Colonel McNeil out there, but it seems pretty certain that he did die on the evening of the 16th. The Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps has a good write-up, as does Pennsylvania Civil War 150.
09-21-2012: I just found out that the Eve. Post article was very similar to one in The New-York Times.
