Early life

McCreery was born on August 27, 1836 in Mt. Morris

Mount Morris (town), New York

Mount Morris is a town in Livingston County, New York, United States. The population was 4,567 at the 2000 census. The town and village were named after Robert Morris, the financier of the American Revolution....

, Livingston County

Livingston County, New York

As of the census of 2000, there were 64,328 people, 22,150 households, and 15,349 families residing in the county. The population density was 102 people per square mile . There were 24,023 housing units at an average density of 38 per square mile...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. In 1859, he was admitted to the county bar.

Civil War

Initially assigned to Company F, Second Michigan Infantry, He was later a Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 commanding the 21st Michigan Infantry with the Union Army in the Civil War. He fought with valor and was serious wounded at Williamsburg, Virginia, and at Chickamauga. He was captured by the Confederates after being wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga

Battle of Chickamauga

The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19–20, 1863, marked the end of a Union offensive in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign...

. He escaped in 1864 from Libby Prison

Libby Prison

Libby Prison was a Confederate Prison at Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. It gained an infamous reputation for the harsh conditions under which prisoners from the Union Army were kept.- Overview :...

 in Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

 reportedly by the way of a tunnel dug by himself and other prisoners.

After the war

Returning to Flint, McCreery enter the general merchandising business with F. W. Judd then in the lumber industry with a sawmill on the banks of the Flint River

Flint River (Michigan)

The Flint River is a river in the Flint/Tri-Cities region of Michigan in the United States. It flows through the city of Flint and the counties of Genesee, Lapeer and Saginaw.- Course :...

 just south of the Saginaw Road bridge. In the Grant administration, he became the district collector of internal revenue. He was involved in the Flint City Water Works Company as its president and as an original stockholders and in the Grand Trunk Railway Flint-Lansing extenstion construction.

Political life

He was elected as the ninth mayor of the City of Flint in 1865 serving two 1-year terms. Elected Michigan State Treasurer

State Treasurer of Michigan

The State Treasurer of Michigan functions as the chief financial officer for the U.S. state of Michigan. The State Treasurer oversees the collection, investment, and disbursement of all state monies, and also administers major tax laws, safeguards the credit of the state, and distributes revenue...

 in 1875 serving until 1878. Appointed in 1890 as U.S. Consul in Valparaiso.

Post-political Life

He served as a director of First National Bank of Flint. McCreery died on December 9, 1896 in Flint, Michigan and laid to rest at Glenwood Cemetery, Flint, Michigan.