The McAnallys, Reluctant Warriors- Part I

Pat,

   Here are a few things that might interest you.  First let me set at least one rule of engagement: Don't feel it necessary to respond to any thing I send you. Sure I would like to hear from you on several subjects that I will eventually get around to asking, but don't feel obligated to respond to my muses or some might say diatribe.  I don't play golf, my bike riding is limited and my hobby is writing stuff for my own enjoyment.  Now and then I send some stuff to people and they have to bare with me.  The two items enclosed are part of one of my blogs.

The McAnally's, Reluctant Warriors - Part 1

From the best the family can tell Charles McAnally, Sr was born in Scotland in 1685 and came to American in 1693. He died in 1740 and was reportedly a farmer by trade. There is no record he ever fought in any war but being on the frontier he might have had a run in with an Indian or two.

He did have two sons, Charles, Jr. and John who did fight in the French and Indian War for the Virginia Colonial Militia, Charles, Jr as a captain and John of unknown rank fought in the Revolutionary War with the North Carolina Militia.

Charles had a son named Jesse who also fought for North Carolina.  John had a son named David who was in the RW but seemed to break the tradition of North Carolina and was assigned as a guard of British prisoners, was a sergeant and served with General Mead and General Lafayette.

Later on there was a John McAnally who fought in the Mexican War, but no one seems to know what he did, where he was from, or who he was related to in the McAnally linage.

The one soldier the McAnally's point to with ah was Charles McAnally a captain in the Civil War. He won the Congressional Medal of Honor. The citation read "In hand to hand encounter with the enemy captured a flag, was wounded in action but continued in action until he received a second wound." This took place at Spotsylvania. He was a member of the 69th Penn. Vol. Inf. He must have seen a lot of action and received at least what we call now one friendly fire wound. His records show that in the early part of 1861 he was shot in the right leg as a result of two junior ranks having an altercation. Later in 1861 on a night patrol he was shot just below the right knee at Manson Hill, VA. Then in 1863 he received a head wound on July 3 at Gettysburg from a saber. He was again shot at Cold Harbor on June 1864 in the right leg and surgeons wanted to remove his leg but he talked them out of it. He was promoted to Captain in October of 1864 and in March 1865 he was presented with a sword by the men of his Regiment. He received a military pension until 1905.

At the same time there was another Charles McAnally, Sgt, who was with K Company, 37th Infantry, Confederate States of America. It is not known if either Charles faced each other in combat.

Although not a McAnally, Thomas Conley Copeland was a private in the Kansas Volunteer Infantry and fought at the battle of Lone Jack. He was my great great grandfather on my great grandmothers side. I have his discharge papers and his later commission in the Missouri Army National Guard.

There was a Thomas McAnally who fought with the 1st District of Columbia Volunteer Infantry, Co A during the Spanish American War and James McAnally was a member of American Expeditionary Force in WW I, both cousins of mine.

My grandfather, Joseph Conley McAnally, ran away from home and joined the US Calvary after WW I and spent his time riding horses in Wyoming and Montana. He did not like it and asked his dad to buy him out of the service, which great grandpa did for $1,500.

James McAnally is reported to have been on Wake Island but no one is sure if he is of our linage.

Dad was drafted and had no real desire to go but did of course and served in Korea and in the reserves for a couple of years.

And then there was me.