It won’t be long before our great country celebrates its 250th anniversary of being a country. In this and my next columns, I thought I just might write about local people who played their parts during and after the Revolutionary War.
Although our country has seen some smaller wars on our soil, the great Civil War and the American Revolution were two of our most famous conflicts. Both wars would pit brother against brother and neighbor against neighbor.
My first story focuses on the war with England for our independence. (1775-1783) Although there were several groups of people fighting during the war, most were either Whigs (Patriots), Torries (Loyalists) or English and their paid mercenaries.
Seems as if each group had their reason for fighting such a great war. As in any war there were some who either switched sides or hid out.
The first battle of the Revolution was at Lexington, Massachusetts — although some say some of the first steps of the war began in North Carolina. As the war began, our southern colonies made it very plain that they were in this rebellion also.
In the southern colonies there were several groups of people. Some like the English, Irish and Germans had traveled down the Great Wagon Road from New England and settled in our southern states. While other groups like the Scots made their way up the Cape Fear, Georgetown and Charlestown areas to settle in the Lowcountry and southeastern sections of North and South Carolina.
As the Revolutionary War started, men from all the colonies took sides. A lot of Scots took the side of the British because in 1746 the Scots lost the Battle of Culloden to the Brits. Most Scots took an oath to never take up arms against the British again, although at that time they were living in America.
In this first story I’ll be talking about the life and times of Micajah Ganey (Gainey)) 1756-1830). Micajah was the son of an Englishman by the name of Stepen Ganey who had settled in what was then Craven County. Their land grant and home were located about six miles below the present town of Marion South Carolina.
Over the years, Micajah had built a good size plantation located between Catfish Creek and the Little Pee Dee River. Micajah was a rather large-sized man for his day and time. Some said he was a powerful handsome man, very intelligent but sometimes could be overbearing. Seems when he got aroused, he was hot-tempered and even violent.
Micajah, along with crops on his plantation, liked to raise racehorses and had some of the fastest in that part of the country.
Like I said earlier, a lot of Scots had made their new homesteads in the Lowcountry along the Little Pee Dee, Waccamaw and Lumber rivers. When the war started, they were true to their oaths to the Brits and formed militias to fight the Patriots in the area.
Don’t know for what reason, but Micajah took sides with the Patriots and served in the 2nd S.C. Regiment. Seems when he was off fighting, a loose-cannon, war-profiting captain by the name of Maurice Murphy of the Patriot side looted, plundered, burnt Micajah’s plantation and even stole his prize horses.
When Ganey came home and found his plantation in ruins and found out who had done this, his allegiance to the Patriot side quickly changed. He rode directly to Georgetown to join the British forces. For this, he was awarded a commission in the British army as a major and put in charge of the Loyalists in the Pee Dee region.
Maj. Ganey had chosen his own allegiance with the British and was branded a traitor as an act of treason by the Patriots and was to be shot on sight.
Ganey was a leader and knew the area. At one time he led as many as 900 men. He and his men became a major nuisance to Patriot Gen. Francis Marion (the Swamp Fox) along the lower borders of North Carolina and the swamps of the Pee Dee region of South Carolina.
Pee Dee River in Cheraw, South Carolina.
J.A. Bolton
It didn’t take long for Ganey and his men to become some of the most hated military groups in the area. With killing, robbing and burning taking place all along their routes, Patriots wanted even more to kill Ganey.
Marion and Ganey fought many small battles and had many skirmishes, but Ganey could never really defeat Marion. It was at one of these skirmishes that Marion’s men were chasing Ganey and a Patriot sergeant by the name of McDonald caught up with Ganey and placed a bayonet in his back. The bayonet came loose from the gun and Ganey kept riding with it in his back. Some say he rode all the way to Georgetown with the bayonet still in his back. But wherever he, was his wound was treated and he was soon back in action.
As the war was winding down, Marion and Ganey made a truce and Ganey even finished the war on the Patriots' side.
After the war, Ganey was still a hated man throughout the lower Pee Dee area. He moved with his family to Richmond County and became a very respected citizen. Why, he even was the high sheriff of Richmond County from 1802 to 1804, when he lost his bid for reelection.
The last record I could find on Micajah Ganey was at a wedding at his home in Montgomery County between Mr. Isham A. Dumas, a merchant in Richmond County, to Miss Emaline Roberson on March 20, 1828.
His date of death was 1830, but any evidence of his burial place I haven’t been able to find. But the search continues.
J.A. Bolton is author of “Just Passing Time,” “Southern Fried: Down-Home Stories,” “Sit-A-Spell,” “Early Years at Blewett Falls,” and co-author of “Just Passing Time Together,” all of which can be purchased on Amazon or bought locally. Contact him at ja@jabolton.com.
