Robert Neill (November 12, 1838 – February 16, 1907) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

Life

Born near Desha, Arkansas, Neill attended the common schools. He took a course in

land surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the land, terrestrial Plane (mathematics), two-dimensional or Three-dimensional space#In Euclidean geometry, three-dimensional positions of Point (geom ...

under a tutor in Ohio in 1859. Neill was elected county surveyor of his native county in August 1860. He entered the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

in May 1861 and served as a private in Company K, First Regiment, Arkansas Mounted Riflemen, Gen. Benjamin McCulloch's Brigade, Army of the West. In August 1861 he was severely wounded at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1862 and to captain in 1863. He served as clerk of the circuit court of Independence County 1866-1868. He

read law Reading law was the primary method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship un ...

and was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1868 and commenced practice in Batesville in 1872. He served as lieutenant colonel of Arkansas State Guards 1874-1877. He served as a brigadier general of State militia 1877-1882. He served as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1888 and vice president of the convention for Arkansas. Neill was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

to the Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1897). He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1896. He resumed the practice of law. He served one year as chairman of the Arkansas Railroad Commission, having been appointed in 1899 by Governor Jones. He died in

Batesville, Arkansas Batesville is the largest city in and the county seat of Independence County, Arkansas, United States, 80 miles (128 km) northeast of Little Rock, the state capital. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city was 10,268. The c ...

, February 16, 1907.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neill, Robert 1838 births 1907 deaths Confederate States Army officers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives