Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

McNeir Family Papers, Accession 11020, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Acquisition Information

These letters were given to the Library on October 7, 1991, by Mrs. Meda McNeir Tilman of Charlottesville, Virginia.

Funding Note

Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Scope and Content

This collection consists of personal correspondence of the McNeir family of Annapolis, Maryland , and Washington, D.C. , containing seventy-five letters, 1846-1883, chiefly those of Joseph McNeir concerning his experiences in the Mexican War, and letters from Katie Mc Neir and other family members to her brother, George McNeir , while he was practicing law in Minneapolis, Minnesota .

Correspondence of Joseph McNeir during the Mexican War

Joseph McNeir , son of George McNeir of Annapolis, Maryland , joined the Maryland Volunteer Battalion , in Captain Piper's Company , and left for Mexico by way of Washington . The earliest letter (1846 Jun 20) was a letter of farewell from Joseph's brother, Thomas Shepherd McNeir , written while the volunteers were waiting to embark for Mexico .

Joseph's first letter describes the trip from Washington to his camp at the Brazos de Santiago, Texas , located at the mouth of the Rio Grande River , where he arrived on July first. He discusses the possible attack routes of General Zachery Taylor , the unhealthy conditions of the camp, his visit to Dr. Wells at Point Isabel who gave him pen, paper, and ink; he also mentions the deserters from the Mexican army employed by the Army to store provisions, the rumors about General Taylor's campaign plans against Vera Cruz , seeing the grave of Captain Samuel Ringgold who was mortally wounded in the Battle of Palo Alto and several of his men who lost limbs during the battle; and tells his family to write him in care of Colonel W.H. Watson , and reveals their plans to leave tomorrow for Matamoros (1846 Jul 6).

His father, George McNeir , agrees that General Taylor will not be able to do much in Mexico before October, and expresses the hope that when the Oregon boundary dispute between the United States and England is resolved the government will turn its full attention to the Mexican War; he also mentions that the Navy is busy turning out ships supposedly for an attack on Vera Cruz (1846 Jul 26).

Writing from Camargo , Joseph shares rumors of an impending march to Monterrey , ninety miles distant; on the twelfth of August, his battalion left Barita for Matamoros where they remained one day, and left Matamoros on the fifteenth of August, arriving at Camargo around August 23; he describes the city of Matamoros ; mentions passing two regiments of dragoons and Ringgold's Artillery commanded by Colonel David E. Twiggs who told of rumors of 900 Comanche Indians in the vicinity; mentions that the Ohio and Kentucky Volunteers are marching with the Maryland Volunteers making them about 3,000 soldiers in all, travelling with 202 wagons of provisions; remarks upon the scarcity of water in the region and the suffering from thirst which forces them to march each day until they find water; and mentions the unusual flora of the area, especially the orange trees (1846 Aug 28).

A letter from a brother to their father George mentions his thankfulness that Joseph survived "the battle," perhaps the Battle of Monterrey (1846 Nov 1). In his letter of November 13, 1846, written in a camp in the mountains near Monterrey , Joseph mentions that he has seen battle and survived, that they have plenty of fresh water, and that the armistice signed by General Taylor and General Pedro de Ampudia will be over on November 13. General William J. Worth 's division has left Monterrey and started for Saltillo taking with him Colonel [Charles A.] May's Dragoons from Twiggs' Brigade , with the rest of General David E. Twiggs ' Brigade remaining to take possession of Monterrey and then proceed to San Luis Potosi (1846 Nov 13).

Still writing from a camp near Monterrey , December 2, 1846, Joseph tells of the plan for his division (General David E. Twiggs ') of 2,000 men to march towards Victoria and Tampico , where the 5,000 to 10,000 Mexicans guarding Tampico are rumored to be some of the same soldiers who stood the charge so well at Palo Alto . General William J. Worth is to remain at Saltillo which his men captured without resistance and General William O. Butler and his volunteers are to remain in Monterrey . Joseph also reports about rumors concerning General Robert Patterson bringing a large group of men from Brazos Island to Tampico , and a controversy in Joseph's battalion over the removal of Captain Stewart as Colonel and his replacement by Major Buchanan engineered by the officers, which prompted the volunteers to send a petition to General Taylor asking for the right to choose their own commander. He also mentions Mexican skirmishes with the volunteers between the camp and Monterrey , and complains about the exaggerated and incorrect accounts of the Mexican campaigns in the newspapers (1846 Dec 2).

In the next letter, Joseph shares the plans of the army to move on to Victoria the next day, in order to capture Victoria which would give the United States control over three of the Mexican states, that 2500 soldiers were left to garrison Monterrey, and the plans for General Taylor to join General Worth's division at Saltillo (1846 Dec 12). His next letter was written from Victoria where Joseph arrived around December 28 after a sixteen day march from Monterrey . In the letter he mentions an express message which came to General Taylor while at Montemorales en route to Victoria with General David E. Twiggs ' division and General John A. Quitman 's Brigade, from General Worth at Saltillo asking for help because he heard rumors of an impending Mexican attack. Taylor ordered Quitman to continue but returned to Saltillo with Twiggs' regulars. The Mexican plans to attack were called off and Taylor decided it was unnecessary to travel to Saltillo and returned to Victoria . The four thousand Mexicans at Victoria evacuated the town before the United States troops arrived and the original troops were augmented by the arrival of General Robert Patterson with 5,000 soldiers and 500 cavalry. Joseph also mentions the presence of numerous parrots which the soldiers have taken for pets and the plans for General John A. Quitman 's division to leave for Tampico on Saturday, January 9, 1847, (1847 Jan 6).

The next letter from Joseph, January 29, 1847, repeats some of the same information as the last but also mentions the loss of eleven of Colonel May's dragoons scouting above Saltillo where the Mexicans pushed rocks into a narrow pass cutting off the eleven from their comrades and killing them. When Joseph's division left Victoria for Tampico on the fifteenth of January, six men who fell behind the others during the march to Tampico were robbed and killed by Mexican bandits, General Taylor was ordered to Monterrey by General Scott and Taylor issued an order to be read to his men concerning the dangers and fatigues they had endured together and his regret upon having to leave them. Joseph expresses his belief that it is unlikely that they will be sent to Vera Cruz after all (1847 Jan 29).

Joseph's last letter from Mexico mentions that his one year term of military service was about over; reports that General Twiggs routed the Mexicans at Jalapa with 5,000 regulars and had taken a great deal of artillery and that all troops have left Tampico except the Louisiana Volunteers and Joseph's battalion, about a thousand in all; and he also writes concerning parrots and chihuahua dogs and reports of yellow fever at Vera Cruz (1847 Apr 16).

The remainder of the McNeir family correspondence consists chiefly of miscellaneous personal and family news, including a reference to the Know-Nothing Party in San Francisco, California (1855 Dec 20) and the anxiety of family members for those absent during the Civil War (1862 Jul 16).

Letters to George and Meda McNeir

Letters to George (1860-1941) and Meda McNeir are chiefly from his sister Katie McNeir , his father, Thomas Shepherd McNeir , and his brother, William McNeir , all of Washington, D.C. . These letters were written between May and July of 1883 while George McNeir and his wife, Meda Burrows , and his son, Thomas S. Burrows McNeir (1882-?), were visiting Senator Julius Caesar Burrows (1837-1915) and Frances S. Peck Burrows of Michigan , and Herbert Peck , in Minneapolis, Minnesota .

George McNeir was born in Washington, D.C. to Thomas Shepherd and Emily Schwarar McNeir and attended Georgetown University where he received two law degrees, in 1881 and 1882. He served as a page in the United States Senate in 1870, and married Meda Burrows , daughter of the Michigan Senator Julius Caesar Burrows , in 1881. In 1883 the family moved to Minneapolis where George began to practice law in partnership with Herbert Peck , possibly the brother of his mother-in-law. He practiced law there from 1883 until 1894, when he became the manager of the House of W. & J. Sloane, 1894-1922, and then served as Chairman of the Board of Mohawk Carpet Mills, Amsterdam, New York, 1922-[?].

The letters to George and Meda McNeir are chiefly concerned with news of the health and activities of family and friends in Washington, D.C. The majority of letters are from Katie McNeir , an older sister of George, who worked for the Federal Government in Washington, first as a clerk in the Census Office of the Interior Department and then in the Government Land Office of the Interior Department. Her letters provide an interesting view of the "working girl" of the late nineteenth century. Her brother, William McNeir (1864-) , was also a government clerk in the Department of State, and he eventually became a bureau chief in the same department. A few topics in these letters include: a reference to their visit to Senator and Mrs. Burrows in Michigan (1883 May 11); the ambition of Senator Burrows to be appointed Commissioner of Internal Revenue (1883 May 13); a Grand Army parade in Washington, D.C. of two hundred to three hundred drunken veterans (1883 May 20); the decision of George to go into partnership with Herbert Peck in Minnesota (1883 May 22); and the civil service exams and rules, especially the participation of black candidates (1883 Jul 19, 2 letters). Although the McNeirs remained in Minnesota for at least ten years, only letters covering the first three months of their stay are present in the collection.