Sailing off to the War of 1812, in a large ship with many of his Salem buddies, Neal was destined for a life of adventure and intrigue. Captured a and put in Dartmoor Prison for a year, he sacrificed some fingers when he failed to escape once and he paid the price After he set out on numerous trips around the world in pursuit of riches in the Spice Trade and eventually became the Captain of his own ship. Later when he felt his ship was no longer profitable on the advice of his friend Senator Abraham Lincoln of Illinois he traveled west and visited short mining train routes before he sunk a small fortune in property down the future path of the Illinois Central Railroad that made him successful well before his time.