McNeill's Raid (Site) (Cumberland, Maryland)

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Capture of Crook and Kelly. In the predawn darkness of February 21, 1865, Confederate Lt. Jesse McNeill and his partisan (guerrilla) rangers rode into Cumberland from the west on this road. Unlike most raiders who targeted the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for attack, McNeill had other targets in mind: Union Gens. Benjamin F. Kelley, who commanded the troops guarding the railroad, and George Crook.

McNeill's men overpowered two guard units and deceived others who challenged them by claiming, to be scouts from New Creek, west of town. One group rode to the Barnum Hotel and rushed upstairs to Kelley's door, where they "persuaded" his adjutant to admit them. Once inside, they rudely awakened Kelley, ordered him to dress, and marched him and the adjutant down stairs. Other rangers occupied the Revere House and knocked on Crook's locked door. When Crook invited them inside, ranger Joseph Vandiver entered with a light in one hand and a pistol in the other. He identified himself to Crook as Confederate Gen. Thomas L. Rosser, perhaps to make surrender more palatable, and told Crook, "You are in my power, and you have two minutes in which to dress. There are your clothes; either put them on or go without."

Leaving town, McNeill's rangers and their prisoners rode west on Baltimore Street, then turned left on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath. At Wiley's Ford, they crossed the Potomac River into West Virginia. McNeill's daring raid stunned Federal officials, who quickly arranged a prisoner exchange for the two generals.

www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=716