author
Henry M. (Henry Moore) Neil
1832–1929
A Civil War artillery officer from Columbus, Ohio, he turned his wartime experience into vivid historical writing. His best-known work, A Battery at Close Quarters, gives readers a close view of Union artillery service in the battles of Iuka and Corinth.
1 Audiobook
A battery at close quarters : a paper read before the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion, October 6, 1909
by Henry M. (Henry Moore) Neil
About the author
Born in 1832, Henry M. Neil—Henry Moore Neil—was closely connected to Columbus, Ohio. Contemporary and library records identify him as the author of A Battery at Close Quarters and as a captain in the Twenty-second Ohio Battery, drawing on firsthand Civil War experience in his writing.
His most familiar book grew out of a paper read before the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion in 1909. In it, he recounted the actions of the Eleventh Ohio Battery at Iuka and Corinth with the detail of someone who understood artillery service from the inside, which helps give the narrative its immediacy and practical feel.
Neil lived a long life, dying in 1929. Alongside his military writing, records also connect him with family and genealogical material, but he is remembered most as a veteran author whose work preserves a sharp, personal view of the Union war effort.