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- May 3, 2013
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Colonel Hugh W McNeil commanded the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves, he was the first Federal Officer to fall at Antietam. Colonel McNeil was shot during skirmishing on the night before the battle. ....
http://pareserves.com/?q=node/592
In the Maryland campaign he displayed the best qualities of the soldier. At South Mountain, General Meade ordered him to advance, with his regiment deployed as skirmishers, boldly up the face of the mountain and find the foe. Nobly was the command executed, and before the enemy was aware of their presence, he began to feel the effect of their trusty rifles.
Again, at Antietam, McNeil was ordered to deploy his men, and lead the column. At a wood in front of the little Dunkard church, the enemy was found, sheltered behind a fence. A charge was ordered, and McNeil went forward at a run in the face of a perfect torrent of artillery and musketry missiles. The first line of the foe was routed and driven; but in advancing upon a second line, many of his men fell, and among them Colonel McNeil himself, who expired on the field. His last commands were, "Forward, Bucktails! Forward!" "These were his last commands," says [Private Columbus] Cornforth; "I heard them. It was quite dark, and I did not see him, though he was but a short distance off. I helped carry him back to the rear, after firing had ceased. I did not know he was killed till silence and darkness reigned.
One of the soldiers said his last words were, "Take me to the rear. Don't let me fall into the enemy's hands.'"
General Meade, in his report of the battle, says:
http://pareserves.com/?q=node/592
In the Maryland campaign he displayed the best qualities of the soldier. At South Mountain, General Meade ordered him to advance, with his regiment deployed as skirmishers, boldly up the face of the mountain and find the foe. Nobly was the command executed, and before the enemy was aware of their presence, he began to feel the effect of their trusty rifles.
Again, at Antietam, McNeil was ordered to deploy his men, and lead the column. At a wood in front of the little Dunkard church, the enemy was found, sheltered behind a fence. A charge was ordered, and McNeil went forward at a run in the face of a perfect torrent of artillery and musketry missiles. The first line of the foe was routed and driven; but in advancing upon a second line, many of his men fell, and among them Colonel McNeil himself, who expired on the field. His last commands were, "Forward, Bucktails! Forward!" "These were his last commands," says [Private Columbus] Cornforth; "I heard them. It was quite dark, and I did not see him, though he was but a short distance off. I helped carry him back to the rear, after firing had ceased. I did not know he was killed till silence and darkness reigned.
One of the soldiers said his last words were, "Take me to the rear. Don't let me fall into the enemy's hands.'"
General Meade, in his report of the battle, says:
"I feel it also due to the memory of a gallant soldier and accomplished gentleman, to express here my sense of the loss to the public service in the fall of Colonel Hugh W. McNeil, of the First Pennsylvania Rifles, who fell mortally wounded while in the front rank, bravely leading on and encouraging his men, on the afternoon of the 16th."
Bringing the