ment, and of the district of northeast Missouri, which he soon cleared of guerillas. He was made a brigadier - general of volunteers, 29 Nov., 1862, and did good service in defence of Cape Girardeau in the spring of 1863, and during Price's raid in October, 1864, and I'esigned in 1865. He was sheriff of St. Louis county. Mo., in 1866 and 1870, clerk of the criminal court in 1875-'6, U. S. commissioner to the Centennial exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. and inspector in the U. S. Indian service in 1878 and again in 1882.
McNEILL, William Gibbs, civil engineer, b.
in Wilmington, N. C, 3 Oct., 1800 : d. in Brooklyn,
N. Y., 16 Feb., 1853. He was graduated at the
U. S. military academy in 1817, and entered the
artillery branch of the service as 3d lieutenant,
serving on topographical duty until January, 1823,
when he was transferred to the corps of topograph-
ical engineers with the brevet rank of captain.
Subsequently, while in this corps, his work included
engagements on the construction of the Chesapeake
and Ohio canal in 1824-'6, on Kanawha, James,
and Roanoke rivers in 1827, and as member of the
board of engineers on the construction of the Balti-
more and Ohio railroad in 1827-30, and he be-
came chief engineer in charge of the construction
of the Baltimore and Susquehanna railroad in
1830-'6, meanwhile also holding engineering ap-
pointments to various other roads. He then was
chief engineer in charge of the construction of
railroads till 1837, and during the latter year he
also had charge of the examination of the coasts
of North and South Carolina, but he resigned from
the army in November, after attaining the rank of
brevet major on the staff of the topographical en-
gineers. He had achieved the reputation of being
one of the foremost railroad engineers in the
United States, and his services were sought for at
unusual prices. At the time of the Dorr rebellion
in 1842 he was commissioned major-general of
Rhode Island militia, and commanded the state
troops during that excitement. He was president
of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal company in
1842-'3, and chief engineer of the dry dock at the
U. S. navy-yard in Brooklyn in 1844-"5. Subse-
quently he held consulting appointments princi-
pally to various railroad and other pitblic works
in the United States and Cuba.
MacNEVIN, William James, physician, b. in
Ballynahowne, Countv G-alway, Ireland, 21 March,
1763 ; d. in New York city, 12 July, 1841. At the
age of twelve he was sent to Austria, where his
uncle. Baron O'Kelly MacNevin, was physician to
the Empress Maria Teresa. He was educated at
Prague, and, after a course of medicine in that
city, finished his professional studies in the Uni-
versity of Vienna, taking the degree of M. D. in
1784. He then returned to Ireland, where he be-
came one of the leaders of the United Irishmen,
and was imprisoned from 1798 till 1802. On his
release he went to Prance, and entered the Irish
legion in the army of Napoleon, but, despairing of
a French invasion of Ireland, he came to the
United States in 1805. Soon after his arrival he
began the practice of his profession, in which he
quickly attained distinction. In 1808 he was ap-
pointed professor of obstetrics in the College of
physicians and surgeons, and in 1811 filled the
chair of chemistry and materia medica. He was
the first to establish a chemical laboratory in New
York. In 1826 he resigned his professorship, and,
in conjunction with Dr. Valentine Mott. Dr. John
W. Francis, Dr. David Hosack, and others, founded
a new medical school on Duane street, in which he
lectured on materia medica and therapeutics till
. He was president of "The Friends of Ire-
land " and a member of nearly every Irish society in
New York city. He published a pamphlet for immi-
grants entitled "Directions, or Advice to Irishmen
arriving in America," and he established a bureau
to obtain places for Irish servant-girls. Besides
his great professional attainments. Dr. MacNevin
was a man of wide learning and rare accomplish-
ments. He was a proficient in the principal modern
languages and well versed in their literature. His
writings were mainly on medical, scientific, and
political subjects, and were commonly in the form
of essays and lectures. His principal works are
" Rambles through Switzerland in the Summer
and Autumn of 1802 " (Dublin, 1803) ; " Pieces of
Irish History," with Thomas Addis Emmet (New
York, 1807) ; " Chemical Examination of the Min-
eral Water of Schooley's Mountain" (1815); and
" Exposition of the Atomic Theory of Chemistry "
(1819). He also published an edition of "Brande's
Chemistry." and was associate editor for three
years, with Dr. Benjamin De Witt, of New York,
of the '• Medical and Philosophical Journal."
McNIEL, John, soldier, b. in Hillsborough,
N. H., in 1784: d. in Washington, D. C, 23 Feb.,
1850. He was commissioned captain in the 11th
infantry on 12 March. 1813, and became major on
15 Aug. At the battle of Chippewa, 5 July, 1814,
the bayonet charge of this regiment under his
command secured the victory to the Americans,
for which he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. He
was brevetted
colonel on 25
July, 1814, for
services at the
battle of Ni-
agara, in which
he was severely
wounded, and
hebecame lieu-
tenant-colonel
of the 1st in-
fantrv on 24
Feb.," 1818, re-
maining in the
service after
the peace. He
attained the
rank of brevet
brigadier- gen-
eral on 25 July,
1824, and was
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made colonel of the 1st infantry on 28 Aug., 1826, but resigned his commission on 23 April, 1830, having been appointed in 1829 surveyor of the port of Boston, which office he held for several years.
McNIERNEY, Francis, R. C. bishop, b. in New York city, 25 April. 1828 : d. in Albany, N. Y., 2 Jan., 1894. He received an English education, and then went to Montreal, where, after completing his clerical education, he entered the seminary of" the Sulpicians for the study of theology and philosophy. He was ordained in St. Patrick's
cathedral. New York, 17 Aug., 1854, and made private secretary of Archbishop McCloskey, which post he held for seventeen years, until, in 1871, he was appointed titular bishop of Rhesina and coadjutor of Albany. He was consecrated in St. Patrick's cathedral, New York, 21 April, 1871. On 19 Feb., 1874, he was appointed administrator
of the diocese of Albany, and on 12 Oct., 1877, became bishop of that see by the right of succession. He has administered both the spiritual and temporal affairs of his diocese with great success. He was present at the 3d plenary council of Baltimore