| 1837 May 28 |
Born in Monroe, Louisiana. His father is Henry O’Neal McEnery an emigrant from Ireland who stayed briefly in Virginia before moving to Louisiana in 1835 to become a planter and a registrar at the land office. He helps bring settlers to North Louisiana. Samuel is educated at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, the U.S. Naval Academy, from which he resigned shortly before graduation, and the University of Virginia. |
| 1857 | He is at the State and National Law School in Poughkeepsie, New York when his father dies |
| 1859 | Passes the New York Bar and moves to Maryville, Missouri. |
| 1861 | When war breaks out he moves back to Louisiana to establish a volunteer company known as the Pelican Grays of the 2nd Louisiana Regiment. |
| 1862 | Commissioned a Lt. in the CSA. |
| 1863 | Commands a confederate training camp at Trenton, Louisiana (West Monroe) |
| 1865 | Teaches school in Monroe while preparing for the Louisiana bar. |
| 1866 | Passes the bar and begins a legal practice in Monroe. |
| 1879 | He is elected Lt. Governor under Louis Alfred Wiltz. |
| 1881 | Becomes governor when Louis Alfred Wiltz dies from tuberculosis. |
| 1882 | Rebuilds levees after the flood of 1882. |
| 1884 | Reelected governor for full four years. He will be known as the levee governor or as McLottery. |
| 1884 | New Orleans hosts the World Industrial and Cotton Exposition. |
| 1888 | Appointed an Associate Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court by Governor Francis T. Nicholls |
| 1892 | Again a candidate for governor on the pro-lottery ticket but loses to Murphy James Foster. |
| 1897 March |
Murphy
James Foster persuades the legislature to send McEnery to the U. S.
Senate. He will serve in the Senate until 1910 even though he is opposed by the Citizen’s League, a Democratic faction, as well as Republicans and Populists. |
| 1910 June 28 |
Dies in New Orleans while still a member of the U. S. Senate. |