Angus William McDonald

In 1832, McDonald was appointed state superintendent for the construction of the Northwestern Turnpike (present-day U.S. Route 50) through Hampshire and present-day Mineral counties under the leadership of his former West Point professor of engineering, Virginia Board of Public Works chief engineer Claudius Crozet.[9][20] McDonald created many enemies in his role as superintendent due to his attunement to cost efficiency and his "haughty" nature.[20] He succeeded in building the turnpike through fertile agricultural fields, as was the case of Joseph Kackley's farmland in Smokey Hollow, the most fertile field of which was lost due to both the old and new turnpike routes traversing it.[20] McDonald also proposed building the turnpike through the garden of the Clerk of the Hampshire County Court, John Baker White.[20] White won a court appeal resulting in the rerouting of the road.[20] This rerouting remains evident today in the curve of Main Street in Romney in front of White's residence, now known as "Liberty Hall."[20] McDonald was forced from his position as superintendent and was replaced by William S. Naylor on April 5, 1834.[20]

Profile silhouette of McDonald.

McDonald was a prominent member of the Romney Literary Society[21] and served on the board of trustees governing Romney Academy following his appointment by the Virginia General Assembly on March 25, 1839.[22][23]

While McDonald did not bear any ambitions for political office, he became an active leader in support of political causes and positions he believed in.[24] His personal political ideologies remained consistently states' rights-oriented despite the ever-shifting platforms of American political parties.[24] Throughout his legal and later public careers, McDonald affiliated himself with the Democratic-Republican Party, the Whig Party, and finally, the Democratic Party.[24]

Following the death of McDonald's wife Leacy Anne on February 3, 1843, he increased his participation and involvement in political activities.[24] In keeping with the Virginia law requiring citizens to own a particular amount of land in order to exercise their right of suffrage, McDonald transferred tracts of land of the requisite amount of acres to young men belonging to the Whig Party to enable their vote in elections that McDonald was particularly interested in the outcome of.[24][25] McDonald's maneuver made him many enemies in the opposing Democratic Party, and when he requested permission from Democratic United States President James K. Polk to raise a regiment of volunteers to fight in the Mexican–American War, his request was denied.[25]

McDonald and his family resided at "Wind Lea" in present-day Keyser, West Virginia, from around 1850 until at least 1856

McDonald returned to Missouri in 1846, and took up residence in Hannibal where he had made several large investments.[25] McDonald traveled between Virginia and Missouri, and on one of his stays in Hannibal, he met Cornelia Peake, whose sister, Susan Peake, was married to McDonald's brother, Edward Charles McDonald.[25] McDonald and Cornelia married on May 27, 1847, in Hannibal, and in 1848 the couple returned to Romney where McDonald resumed his law practice.[9][25][26] He sold the log dwelling in Romney to William Davis in 1849,[9] although McDonald and his family continued to reside in Romney at least until 1850[27] In 1853,[28] McDonald and his family relocated to "Wind Lea" in Paddy Town (now known as Keyser), a settlement along the North Branch Potomac River and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in western Hampshire County (now Mineral County).[28][29] McDonald's wife, Cornelia, successfully persuaded the United States Post Office Department to change the name of Paddy Town to Wind Lea, after which it was changed again to New Creek Station following the McDonald family's departure.[28] McDonald and his family returned to Romney before subsequently moving to McDonald's hometown of Winchester.[25] In 1856, McDonald purchased "Hawthorne" at 610 Amherst Street in Winchester and he and his wife relocated there from Romney.[26] "Hawthorne" had previously been owned by Virginia Governor James Wood and George Washington's nephew Lawrence Augustine Washington.[30]

Shortly after his move to Winchester, McDonald was appointed by Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise as a commissioner representing Virginia in resolving a boundary dispute with Maryland.[9][25][31] Maryland appointed Lieutenant N. Michler as its commissioner, and he and McDonald commenced their inquiry at a location along the Scarborough line, where McDonald discovered that Maryland had long been in possession of land that rightfully belonged to Virginia.[31] McDonald communicated his discovery to the Virginia General Assembly in the Winter of 1859, after which the legislature authorized him to travel to England in order to conduct further research for boundary records in the archives of the State Paper Office.[31] McDonald arrived in London in July 1860 and immediately began conducting his research.[31] He was received by the Court of St. James's as merely a representative of a state of the United States, and not as a representative of a sovereign state, which prompted McDonald to decline an offer by George M. Dallas to present McDonald to Queen Victoria.[31] McDonald remained in London for five months before discovering enough records and manuscripts to substantiate Virginia's land claim.[32] He returned to the United States via New York in November 1860[32] and was welcomed on the night of his return to Winchester by a number of his friends, including United States Senator James Murray Mason.[33] The boundary dispute between Virginia and Maryland would not be resolved until the Maryland v. West Virginia, 217 U.S. 1 (1910), ruling by the United States Supreme Court, which held that the boundary between Maryland and West Virginia (which had seceded from Virginia in 1863) was the south bank of the Potomac River.

McDonald served as the first colonel in command of the 7th Virginia Cavalry, which he formed later in the Spring of 1861.[35] In June 1861, McDonald and his cavalry occupied Romney,[36] but were defeated by Union Army forces in their defense of the town by July.[37] McDonald's 7th Virginia Cavalry fought several Union Army companies of the 82nd Ohio Infantry under the command of Colonel James Cantwell in the Battle of Hanging Rocks Pass on September 24, 1861.[38] On the evening of September 23, 1861, McDonald received information that Union Army forces planned an attempt to pass through the gap at Hanging Rocks early the next morning.[38] Upon learning of this, McDonald and his 26 troops climbed to the top of Hanging Rocks in the early morning of September 24 in preparation for the arrival of Union troops.[38] McDonald also sent a scouting party down the South Branch on the night of September 23.[38][39] McDonald and his cavalry recaptured Romney from Union Army forces on September 24, thus causing Union Army forces to retreat to Keyser.[36]

McDonald was forced to resign his command of the 7th Virginia Cavalry in late 1861 due to severe rheumatism.[35] Following the aftermath of Major General Stonewall Jackson's Romney Expedition, McDonald traveled to Richmond, where he served as an advisor to the Confederate States War Department.[26] McDonald's wife remained at "Hawthorne" with her eight children, two slaves, and three servants[30] until June 1863, when she relocated to Lexington, Virginia, to live with McDonald.[26][30]

In July 1864, while McDonald was residing in Lexington, he was arrested along with his son Harry by Union Army General David Hunter, who had previously caused damage to his property "Hawthorne" in Winchester.[35][40] McDonald and his son, who was then aged 16, were taken prisoner.[40] Harry escaped one or two days later, but McDonald remained captive and was hastily "tied and dragged" to the Maryland state line.[40] McDonald was taken to Cumberland where he was handcuffed and placed in solitary confinement and then subsequently transferred to a military prison in Wheeling.[40] At Wheeling, McDonald was treated cruelly and held handcuffed in a "dungeon" measuring seven by ten feet.[40] McDonald was permitted a Bible in his cell, from which he derived "great peace and comfort" during his captivity.[41]

Following his release from prison, McDonald was reunited with his children and resided with his daughter at her home in Richmond.[40] His incarceration had further deteriorated his already poor health which had been in decline for a number of years.[40] While it was his intention to return to his residence in Lexington, McDonald's nervous system continued to deteriorate and he died on December 1, 1864.[9][35][40] His wife had been notified of her husband's declining health, but was unable to make it to Richmond until the day following his death.[40] McDonald's funeral service was held the evening after his death on December 2 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church and he was interred with full military honors at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.[41]