Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/185

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McNAMARA
McNEIL

In 1794 he was lieutenant in commanrl of a com- pany from Dauphin county during the whiskey insurrection of that year, and in January, 1799, he was appointed lieutenant of infantry, but was mustered out in June, 1800. He went to Missouri tei-ritory in 1804, and settled in 8t. Louis, where he served for several years as U. S. commissary. In 1812 he was appointed adjutant- and inspector- general, and during- the war with England was a colonel of Missouri militia in the U. S. service. Subsequently he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits. He was elected first governor of Mis- souri, holding office from 1820, when the state government was formed, to 1824, and thereafter held an important office in the Indian department. — His grandson, Antoine Reilhe, naval officer, b. in Louisiana, 15 Sept., 1839, was graduated at the U. S. naval academy in 18G0, assigned to the " Seminole," and engaged off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia during the two following years. In July, 1862, he was promoted lieutenant and engaged in the attack on Fort Sumter and the defences of Charleston, the capture of the batteries on Morris island, in the capture of Fort Fisher, and other minor engagements on the Atlantic seaboard. After the civil war he served on the " Chieopee." In July, 1866. he was promoted lieu- tenant-commander, and. after a year at the naval academy as instructor, saw duty on the flag-ships of the West India squadron and the European squadron until 1870. He then was appointed equipment-officer and inspector of supplies at the Norfolk navy-yard, but was retired on 26 Oct., 1872, in consequence of an injury that he received in the West Indies in 1868. — Another grandson, Frederick Vallette, naval officer, b. in Pennsylvania, 18 Jan., 1839, was graduated at the U. S. naval academy in 1857, after which he served on the "Minnesota" in the East India squadron. He was made lieutenant in 1861, transferred to the " Iroquois," of the West Gulf squadron, and par- ticipated in the bombardment of Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip, the capture of New Orleans, passage both ways of the Vicksburg batteries, and the destruction of the Confederate ram '• Ar- kansas." Later he served as executive officer of the "Juniata," of the South Atlantic blockading squadron, acting in this capacity in both of the attacks on Fort Fisher, and received special men- tion for his conduct. In 1864 he was commissioned lieutenant-commander, and after the civil war was assigned to duty in the Brazil squadron in 1865-'6, and in the South Atlantic squadron in 1866-'7. He was stationed at the naval academy in 1868, after which he was on the flag-ship of the European squadron. In 1872 he was commissioned commander and given the " Kearsarge," and later the " Portsmouth," becoming in 1879-'80 commandant of cadets at the U. S. naval academy at Annapolis. Subsequently he was captain of the navy-yard at Mare island, Cal., having, on 13 April, 1883, been promoted captain, and at present (1888) has com- mand of the " Omaha," of the Asiatic squadron.


McNAMARA, John, clergyman, b. in Dromore, County Down, Ireland, 27 Dec, 1824; d. in North Platte', Neb., 24 Oct., 1885. He was educated at St. Paul's college. Flushing, L. L, and completed his theological course at the General theological seminary of New York. He was assistant to Rev. William A. Muhlenberg, D. D., in St. Luke's hos- pital, and was then a missionary of the Protestant Episcopal church in Kansas, ile was clerical dep- uty to the general convention for many years from Nebraska, where he was pastor of the Church of Our Saviour in North Platte. In 1869 the degree of D. D. was conferred on him by Nebraska college, of which institution he was president for several years. He is the author of " Three Years on the Kansas Border " (New York, 1852), and "The Black Code of Kansas " (1857).


McNAUGHTON, James, physician, b. in Ken- more, Scotland, 10 Dec, 1796 ; d. in Paris, France, 12 June, 1874. He was educated at Kenmore col- lege and at the University of Edinburgh, where he was graduated in medicine in 1816. In 1817 he came to the United States and, settling in Albany, followed his profession. Soon afterward he was chosen a member of the faculty in the College of physicians and surgeons of the western district of New York, Fairfield, N. Y., where he lectured for twenty years. In 1840 he was elected professor of the theory and practice of medicine in Albany medi- cal college, which chair he held until his death. It is said that he did not miss a week of lectures during his connection with the latter institution. At the time of his death he was the oldest living teacher of medicine, having lectured for fifty-three years and delivered seventy courses. Dr. McNaugh- ton was president of the Albany county medical society in 1848-'9, a governor of the medical de- partment of Union college, and president of the medical and surgical staff of the Albany hospital.


MACNEILL, Hector, poet, b. in Rosebank, near Roslin, Scotland, 22 Oct., 1746 ; d. in Edinburgh. 15 March, 1818. He studied in a grammar-school in Stirling, and at the age of fourteen was sent to Bris- tol to enter the counting-house of his cousin, a W^est India trader. Subsequently he went to the West In- dies, and became the manager of a sugar-plantation in Jamaica, where he wrote a pamphlet in defence of slavery in the West Indies (1788). About this time he returned to Scotland, and became assistant secretary in the flag-ship of Admiral Geary, which post, after two cruises, he exchanged for a similar one in a ship bound to the East Indies, remaining there for five years. He then spent two years in retirement in Stirling, where he published " The Harp, a Legendary Tale," which had but little success (1789). Again he visited the West Indies, where he was engaged in the custom-house in Kingston, Jamaica, and his friend and former em- ployer, John Graham, a planter, bequeathed him an annuity of £100. On his estate of Three-Mile- River, Macneill wrote " The Pastoral, or Lyric Muse of Scotland." The last years of his life were spent in Edinburgh, where he wrote several novels,^ and was editor of the "Scots Magazine." He pub- lished an edition of his poems (2 vols., 1801). The chief of these are " Scotland's Scaith, or the His- tory of Will and Jean," and " The Waes o" War, or the Upshot o' the History o' Will and Jean " (1796). Several of his songs, including "Come under my Plaidie," "My Boy Tammy," "Saw ye my Wee Thing," and " Donald and Flora," have" a wide popularity. See James Grant Wilson's " Poets and Poetry of "Scotland " (New York, 1876).


McNEIL. John, soldier, b. in Halifax, N. S., 4 Feb., 1813; d. in St. Louis, 8 June, 1891. He received a common-school education and learned the trade of a hatter, which he carried on in St. Louis, Mo. In 1844-5 he was in the Missouri legislature. He was president of the Pacific insurance company from 1855 till 1861, when he joined the National army under Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, with the rank of colonel. With 600 men he routed Gen. David B. Harris at Fulton, Mo., on 17 July, 1861, and was then placed by Gen. John C. Fremont in command of St. Louis. He was made colonel of the 19th Missouri volunteers, 3 Aug., and early in 1862 took command of a cavalry regi-