Biography of A. R. McNair
FROM OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
A DESCRIPTIVE AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK
PREPARED AND PUBLISHED UNDER THE
AUSPICES OF THE SARATOGIAN
THE BOSTON HISTORY COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 1899
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A. R. McNAIR. LIEUT. COMMANDER ANTOINE de REILHE MCNAIR, U. S. Navy, was born in the city of New Orleans, La., September 15,
1839. He was appointed acting midshipman to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, September 22, 1856, from
the First Congressional District of Missouri, and was graduated therefrom in the class of 1860. He served on the
sloop of war “Preble” in 1857, and the “Plymouth” in 1859, and on June 15, 1860, was graduated and promoted to
midshipman. The subject of this sketch is one of the Southern born officers of the Navy who stood true to his oath
of allegiance to the United States in 1861. His older brother, Fred. A. C. McNair and himself, turned their backs
on kith and kin and all worldly possessions, and drew their swords in defense of the right. Fred. A. C. McNair
sealed his devotion to the old flag with his life. Mr. McNair was on the sloop of war “Seminole” from June, 1860,
to July, 1862, and during that time saw service along the coast of Brazil and other parts of South America; was
on blockade duty off Charleston, S. C.; on the Potomac river, attacking the Confederate batteries at Freestone
Point, Va., and Evansport, Va.; participated in the battle of Port Royal, S. C.; had boat service in the sounds
of Georgia and South Carolina; was at the cutting off of Fort Pulaski, Ga., and the attack on “Thunderbolt Battery,”
Skiddaway Island, Ga.; was in Hampton Roads against the “Merrimac” and participated in the capture of Norfolk gnd
the destruction of the “Merrimac.” In August, 1861, he was promoted to the grade of master for faithful services
in battle, and in July, 1862, was promoted to lieutenant for “gallant and meritorious” services at Port Royal,
Fort Pulaski, the capture of Norfolk and destruction of the ‘Merrimac,” and served on the steam frigate “Powhatan
“from July, 1862, to June, 1864. From July, 1862, till April, 1863, he was engaged in general service at the front
and participated in the attacks on Fort Sumter’ and Charleston in April, 1863. In July, 1863, he was wounded at
the capture of Morris Island, S. C., batteries, and in September, 1863, was at the attacks on Charleston made by
Admirals Du Pont and Dahigren. From October, 1863, to June, 1864, he was serving in the West Indies, convoying
mail steamers and searching for the “Florida” and “Alabama,” in command of the U. S. S. “Gemsbok.” He was at the
attack on Fort Fisher, entrance to the Cape Fear River, N. C., in December, 1864, and at its capture, in January,
1865, on board the U. S. frigate “New Ironsides.” In February and March, 1865, he was in front of the Confederate
rams in James river; was present at the grand smash up in front of Richmond, Va., April, 1865. In July, 1866, he
was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-commander for “gallant and meritorious” services in the late war, and during
1866—67 was naval instructor at the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. He-served on different commands from
1867 to October, 1872, when he was retired, owing to an injury received in the line of duty in the West Indies.
December 13, 1871, Commander McNair married Frances Clarke, daughter of Benedict Clarke and Maria Brattle Clarke
of Saratoga Springs, and they had three children: Frederick Park McNair, private and corporal in the Second N.Y.
Vols., on duty in the Spanish-American war, Jessie MeNair, and Alexander McNair, who was killed by an accident
in his fifth year. Frederick Park McNair was promoted second lieutenant Two Hundred and Second N. Y. Infantry Vols.,
September 29, 1898, and died October 18, 1898, at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., from pernicious malarial fever contracted
in camp at Tampa, Florida, in his twenty-fifth year. Commander McNair is a son of Antoine de Reilhe and Elvina
(Johnson) McNair. For five generations, members of this historic. family have served in tbe uniform of the United
States, and Commander McNair is justly included in the list of this country’s most faithful defenders.
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