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William Gibbs McNeil was born on October 3, 1801, at Wilmington, North Carolina. He was the son of Dr. Charles Donald McNeill.
His great-grandfather, a member of a Highland clan, after service at the Battle of Culloden, emigrated to North America with the celebrated Flora McDonald in 1746.
His father served with the British Army in the West Indies and eventually settled at Wilmington, North Carolina, where he was a physician of high repute.
William Gibbs McNeill was educated near New York, intending to become a minister, but upon visiting West Point with his friend, Joseph Gardner Swift, he became interested in a military career and succeeded in obtaining a cadet appointment by President Madison.
After service at West Point, in 1817, McNeill received a commission as the third lieutenant of artillery. Among his comrades at the military academy was George W. Whistler, who married his sister Anna, and with whom he was professionally associated in many public works. McNeill's early work, under the Corps of Engineers, was with the United States Coast Survey in the South, although he served as aide-de-camp to General Andrew Jackson during the war in Florida in 1819.
In 1823, he was transferred to the corps of topographical engineers, on the general staff. Here he was employed to ascertain the practicability and cost of constructing a railway or canal between the Chesapeake Bay and the Ohio River across the Allegheny Mountains. He also made surveys for the James River and Kanawha canals, as well as the location survey for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
In 1828, with his comrades Whistler, and Jonathan Knight he was deputed to visit Europe to examine the public works, especially existing railroads and those in course of construction. He came into contact with George Stephenson and other noted engineers of the time and became especially impressed with the advantages of railroads as a new mode of transportation. Upon his return to the United States, he took every means to stimulate activity in this field.
As a result, McNeill and Whistler became joint engineers upon a majority of the new railways in the eastern part of the country. Among those upon which he was engaged alone or with Whistler, in addition to the Baltimore & Ohio, were the Baltimore & Susquehanna, Paterson & Hudson River, Boston & Providence, Providence & Stonington, Taunton & New Bedford, Long Island, Boston & Albany, and Charleston, Louisville & Cincinnati. His promotion in rank was rapid and in 1834, he became brevet-major of engineers.
In 1837, he resigned from the army and became an engineer for the state of Georgia, conducting surveys for a railroad from Cincinnati to Charleston. In 1842, he was appointed major-general of militia in the state of Rhode Island to aid in suppressing the Dorr rebellion. He helped to quell the disturbances, but his vigorous action in the affair made him enemies and resulted in his removal by President Polk in 1845 from his position as chief engineer of the Brooklyn dry dock, for which he had prepared the plans.
The same influences were also active in 1846 in causing the declination of his offer of services for the Mexican War. His close application to work severely tried his physical powers, and in 1851, he again visited Europe for the benefit of his health. At this time, he was elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Great Britain the first American to receive this honor.
While in London he was actively engaged in the interests of several large American mining concerns. He returned in 1853 to America, where he died very suddenly at Brooklyn, New York, on February 16. His numerous professional reports comprise some of the early history of railways in the United States. He was connected with many public-improvement works of note in Canada and the West Indies as well as in the United States.
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It has been said of McNeill that his skill as an engineer lay in his ability to "survey the adaptability of ground to practical purposes, " and in his ability to manage a project. For the details of construction he was dependent upon his assistants, who were superior to him in technical attainments.
McNeill was married to Maria Matilda Camman of New York and had seven children, with whom his family life was especially happy.
