Neal enlisted in the Confederate Army in Danielsville, Georgia, on October 3, 1863-three days before his 18th birthday. He was a member of the 16th Georgia Infantry (Madison County Greys), Army of Virginia, under the command of General James Longstreet.

Neal was in the Knoxville Campaign (Battle of Fort Sanders) in November 1863. He was shot in the left arm requiring amputation above the elbow. He also lost sight in his left eye. Neal was captured at Campbell Station near Knoxville on December 5, 1863, two days after his brothers, Allen Moses Chandler and James Anderson Chandler.

Neal was sent to Camp Chase in Ohio on February 25, 1864. From there he was moved around several POW camps and apparently escaped and was recaptured more than once. In 1865, back in the service of the Confederacy, he was diagnosed with smallpox and was admitted to a hospital in Richmond, where he was recaptured one more time on April 3. He is shown on a POW roll and still at Jackson Hospital, Richmond, Virginia, on May 28, 1865.

After the war, Neal was a farmer and also a tax collector (1867-1868) for Clarke County, Georgia. In 1872, he became tax collector for Madison County, Georgia and served in that position for a number of years.

A story passed down through the generations about Neal tells that, although he had only one arm and one eye, he could "outwork all his sons, even chopping firewood."

Neal & Batavia had another son, Emory Speer Chandler. Speer was born in Madison County, Georgia May 19, 1881 and was a drifter most of his adult life. I have not been able to find death date or burial place. Someone told me he died in Alabama, but have not been able to confirm. With him being a drifter, he was probably buried in a pauper's grave.