The annual Summer Songworks organized by the Philadelphia Area Songwriters Alliance (PASA) that I have joyously been involved with for over 7 years brought together on August 2 this year 20 or so musicians to share original music, write songs together, play, and eat. The day ends with an evening concert. in which each of us is invited to share songs we wrote during the day along with any song that we have written.
I looked forward to sharing 'Sept 1862', the song that I wrote about Antietam (see post Sept 1862). I am proud of the work that I've done to finish the 4 verses that tell in shorthand the story of this one day in Civil War history.
As we sat out on the lawn during a break, I discovered as always that there are many who have exhaustive knowledge about history. Tony Desantis and I talked about planning a trip to Fort Delaware a site of one of the northern prisons. Others recounted trips to Gettysburg and beyond.
But the most astonishing conversation was with Terry Merriman, who with great pride and enthusiasm told me about his great great great great great great grandfather Sam McNeill who marched with Sherman to Atlanta. All the work and study I have done up until now blossomed in this one conversation as I drink in this first person account. And then the bonus-Terry has the original handwritten memoir of his relatives life as a soldier and it is available online.
Earlier in the week, I had written this sentence "Time to read about the soldiers". As if this notion had been transmitted through the ether, I am now handed the opportunity to read a personal story.
Believe me, on this day I feel blessed.
About Sam McNeil:
My father's grandmother was Alice
McNeil Merriman Glass (she married twice). Her lineage in this country
goes back to Samuel McNeil who moved to Faggs Manor, Chester County,
Pennsylvania, from Ireland in 1740. His son, Alexander, married a woman
whose parents had moved to New London Township, Chester County, PA in
1740 as well. Alexander had a son named Andrew who also had a son named
Andrew. The second Andrew moved to Ohio in around 1840. His son, Sam
Adams McNeil, enlisted in the Ohio 31st Regiment in 1861 and served
under General Sherman. I have a large family picture with Sam on one side
of the group and my grandmother sitting on her mother's lap next to her
father. My father met and married my mother towards the end of World
War II and moved into a little farm in Ohio. However, they later moved
to Lansdale, PA in 1948 where I was born and raised. It wasn't until
after I had movedMy great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Samuel
McNeil, to Chester County that I learned that it all started
there. is buried in the Faggs Manor Presbyterian church graveyard just 7
miles from my house. Alexander's in-laws lived in New London Township,
where I now live.
Some of the interesting
artifacts that we have from this lineage are photos of the 2nd Andrew,
Sam McNeil, Charles McNeil, Alice McNeil Glass, and my father Richard
Merriman. We also have a family bible in which Sam McNeil wrote about
the family line. Among the most treasured are Sam's artifacts from the
Civil War, including his separation papers from the army in 1864 and
re-enlistment papers, his hand-written memoirs of his service under
Sherman including the march to the sea, and a book he published in the
1890's based on his memoirs. You can read his memoirs at the following
link:
