Henry O'Neil,
b. abt 1815, Cocke Co, TN, is most likely the son of Henry O'Neil who was the
brother of Darius O'Neil. Henry O'Neil removed to Knights Prairie, Hamilton Co.,
IL, about 1856 with his eight children. In the Hamilton Co census of 1860 he was
listed as Henry O. Neal, thus being the likely source of the family's current
O'Neal spelling. Henry O'Neal enlisted in Co D, 6th Ill Vol Cav, Oct 1861 and
was discharged Jan 1863. However he never made it back to Illinois for an
unknown reason. Henry (Sr) and Henry (Jr) are in the same National Archive file,
since they were both members of Co D, 6th Ill Vol Cav and that creates some
difficulties in sorting out what happened to Henry, Sr. There is no pension file
for Sr.
Henry's first born, Joseph O'Neal b. abt 1840 Cocke Co, TN, enlisted in Co A,
40th Ill Vol Inf and was at Shiloh. Joe O'Neal died of disease in the
hospital at Monterey, TN, Jun 1862, shortly after Shiloh. Joe was probably
buried on the hospital grounds and later reinterred in an unmarked grave at the
Shiloh National Cemetery.
Henry O'Neal (Jr) b. abt 1844 Cocke Co, TN, enlisted in Co D, 6th Ill Vol
Cav, Dec 1863 and died in the Eruptive US Army General Hospital, Louisville, KY,
24 May 1865, of consumption following measles. Henry (Jr) is buried in Cave
Hill National Cemetery, Louisville.
John O'Neal b. 25 Nov 1844 Cocke Co.,TN, GGF of John A. O'Neal, enlisted in
Co K, 110th Ill Vol Inf, Sep 1862. John was left by the side of the road on a
forced march in Oct 1862 and was subsequently assigned to the Invalid Corps
later called the Veterans Reserve Corps. John was discharged in Jun 1865 and
died in Knights Prairie, Ill, 23 Aug 1928.