Capt. James McCray, Civil War veteran (CSA) (KIA)

Capt James McCray BIRTH 15 Oct 1819 Lewis County, West Virginia, USA DEATH 23 Feb 1862 (aged 42) Webster County, West Virginia, USA BURIAL McCray Cemetery Cleveland, Webster County, West Virginia

https://es.findagrave.com/memorial/15520355/james-mccray

Co.?,25th Va.Inf.Regt.

This is written by Henry Clay Mace, son of William F. Mace and Willa Berry.

My father (William F. Mace) wasn't married then. He lived with his father (John H. Mace) at Hacker Valley, having moved there from Randolph County in 1856. The Yankees came to their homes and told them to get supper for them. Mr. Mace said that they cooked everything they had on the farm. The tore down three or four haystacks and made beds for the company. The next day they caputured Dad and took him with them. Elias Snyder told me that he, Uncle Ebenezer Mace and James McCray decided they would get ahead of the Yankees and kill one each. They left the road at the head of the run (Short Run) that went down by where Grandfather Berry (William Damute Berry) later lived and went out the ridge to where two big rocks were not far apart. They put a pole from one rock to anoter, laid down with their guns on the pole pointing to the road on the other side of the stream. When the Yankees came close, they went out the ridge also. They must have found out about the plot, as they slipped up and were raising their gunsto shoot before the men knew it. They dashed down the hill away from the Yankees as fast as they could. Uncle Jim was shot through the leg and Uncle Ebenzer through the arm. Snyder said he did not get hit, but they cut the brush off all around him. Mace and Snyder got away. The Yankees took McCrayback to the top of the hill, sat him up against the big rock and shot him with his own gun. Since all the men were away in the war, when they found James kiled on the hill near his brother Evan D. McCray's place, his sisters, Eliza and Rebecca, dug his grave and buried him on the Evan D. McCray place about one and one half miles southwest of Cleveland.

https://lists.rootsweb.com/hyperkitty/list/wvbraxto@rootsweb.com/th...

https://hackerscreek.com/norman/MCCRAY.htm

Capt. James McCray's Co., Mountain Rangers, Co. No. 5, Va. State Rangers, formed from the 199th Regt. Va. Militia (Webster)

https://wikivisually.com/wiki/List_of_West_Virginia_Civil_War_Confe...

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/McCray-382

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15520355/james-mccray

Co.?,25th Va.Inf.Regt.

Capt James M McCray, son of Robert and Margaret Bennett McCray, married Amanda Berry August 19 1841. [1] He was born October 19, 1819 in VA and was killed in the Civil War February 23, 1862 in Webster County, WV. [2] He is buried in McCray Cemetery, Webster County, WV.

James McCray served in the Webster County CSA and was commissioned a captain. Unfortunately, he was killed in an attempt to ambush Union soldiers in Webster County, near Cleveland, WV. The story of the ambush and his death may be found on his Find A Grave Memorial. It is told by the grandson of William Damute Berry, his brother-in-law.

This is written by Henry Clay Mace, son of William F. Mace and Willa Berry. (and nephew of Capt. James McCray)
"My father (William F. Mace) wasn't married then. He lived with his father (John H. Mace) at Hacker Valley, having moved there from Randolph County in 1856. The Yankees came to their homes and told them to get supper for them. Mr. Mace said that they cooked everything they had on the farm. They tore down three or four haystacks and made beds for the company. The next day they captured Dad and took him with them. Elias Snyder told me that he, Uncle Ebenezer Mace and James McCray decided they would get ahead of the Yankees and kill one each. They left the road at the head of the run (Short Run) that went down by where Grandfather Berry (William Damute Berry) later lived and went out the ridge to where two big rocks were not far apart. They put a pole from one rock to another, laid down with their guns on the pole pointing to the road on the other side of the stream. When the Yankees came close, they went out the ridge also. They must have found out about the plot, as they slipped up and were raising their guns to shoot before the men knew it. They dashed down the hill away from the Yankees as fast as they could. Uncle Jim was shot through the leg and Uncle Ebenezer through the arm. Snyder said he did not get hit, but they cut the brush off all around him. Mace and Snyder got away. The Yankees took McCray back to the top of the hill, sat him up against the big rock and shot him with his own gun. Since all the men were away in the war, when they found James killed on the hill near his brother Evan D. McCray's place, his sisters, Eliza and Rebecca, dug his grave and buried him on the Evan D. McCray place about one and one half miles southwest of Cleveland. "

History of Braxton County and Central West Virginia, John Davison Sutton, 1919, page 152 https://archive.org/stream/historyofbraxton00sutt#page/152/mode/1up...

Braxton County Heritage Book Committee: Heritage of Braxton County WV 1995: Collector's First Edition, S. E. Grose and the Braxton County Heritage Book Committee, USA, 1995. pp. 198-99 http://www.worldcat.org/title/heritage-of-braxton-county-west-virgi...

John Davison Sutton, 1919, page 185 https://archive.org/stream/historyofbraxton00sutt#page/185/mode/1up