Heading: (Civil War)
Author:
Title: Small archive of CDVs of John Hanson McNeill, commander of the Confederate irregular unit know as the McNeill Rangers, and family members
Place Published: Various places
Publisher:
Date Published: c.1860s or later
Description:

Seven cartes-de-visite. One is a tintype in a paper frame, the others are albumen photographs on cards with imprints on versos. Six with contemporaneous pencil identification on the reverse, and six have additional later ink notes of a descendent.

Family photographs featuring Confederate irregular John Hanson McNeill, his two sons (Jesse and William), a woman we believe to be William's wife Mary, and three of William and Mary's children. John Hanson "Hanse" McNeill (1815-1864) formed McNeill's Rangers in 1862, after escaping from a prisoner of war camp, and was active in the western counties of West Virginia and Virginia, disrupting Union activities in the area under the Partisan Ranger Act. Along with raids on railroads and wagon trains, he first proposed the operation that became the Jones-Imboden Raid. Opponents called him a Bushwhacker. McNeill was wounded and succumbed to those wounds during a successful predawn attack on a detachment of the 8th Ohio Cavalry Regiment guarding a bridge at Meems Bottom near Mount Jackson, Virginia. Command of the Rangers passed to his son Jesse Cunningham McNeill after his father's death.

The photographs include:

• 
  CDV of Capt. John Hanson McNeill. Imprint of Porter's Gallery, Cincinnati. Pencil inscription on verso "Col. John McNeill, Presented to his (?) Allie." Later ink inscription, "Capt. John H. McNeill, Pearl Pryor's Great grandfather & whose sword I have". (Fading to image, top portion of head not quite visible.)


• 
  CDV of Jess Cunningham McNeill. Imprint of Whitehurst Gallery, Baltimore, Md. Pencil inscriptions "J.B. McNeill" on verso and "Jesse McNeill" on recto. Later ink inscription on verso "Jesse McNeill Pearl Pryor's Great Great Uncle." 


• 
  CDV of William Strother McNeill. Imprint of F.A. Simonds, Photographic Artist, Chillicothe, Ohio. Pencil inscription on verso, "William S. McNeill, Presented to Allie by her brother Will."


• 
  CDV of Mary J. McNeill.  Imprint of F.A. Simonds, Photographic Artist, Chillicothe, Ohio. Pencil inscription on verso, "Mary J. McNeill, Presented to her sister Allie." Later ink inscription, "Pearl Pryor's Grandmother Mary J. McNeill."


• 
  CDV of Sallie P. McNeill.  Imprint of F.A. Simonds, Photographic Artist, Chillicothe, Ohio. Pencil inscription on verso, "Sallie P. McNeill, Presented to her Aunt Allie." Later ink inscription, "Pearl Pryor's mother Mary J. McNeill."


• 
  Tintype of Ursula Bell McNeill. Later ink inscription on verso, "Ursula Bell McNeill (Gilliam), Pearl Pryor's Aunt Sue."


• 
  CDV of George W. McNeill as an infant. Imprint of F.A. Simonds, Photographic Artist, Chillicothe, Ohio. Pencil inscription on verso, "George W. McNeill, Presented to his Aunt Allie." Later ink inscription, "Pearl Pryor's Uncle Geo. McNeill."

Some fading and other normal wear, overall very good.