CSA of McCurtain County, Oklahoma - Capt W.S. WRAY / RAY

Taken from a CD version of the book:
McCurtain County & Southeast Oklahoma
by W.A. Carter
1923, Idabel, OK

CAPT. W.S. WRAY / RAY

* This man's name was spelled Wray and Ray in different locations. A W.S. Ray was found in the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System Website


"Capt. W.S. Wray was born in Orange County, North Carolina in 1844,
and while a boy his family moved to Tennessee and settled near the old
Shiloh Church, afterwards made famous by the battle of Shiloh, fought
between the armies of the Civil War. Capt. Ray left McNairy County, Tenn.,
with the first Confederate company organized there, while he was not yet 17.
His command was the 15th Tennessee Regiment Infantry. His first service
was in Tennessee, Missouri, and Kentucky, engaged in battles of Belmont
and Shiloh.

Later, he was placed under Capt. Smith as a scout, and served with that officer in West Tennessee for more than a year, and while in this service was in the battles of Okolona, Paducah, and Fort Pillow. In 1864 Capt. Ray was Transferred, with others, to Johnson's army which was then near Dalton, Ga., and had part in all the battles of the Georgia campaign from Dalton to Lovejoy Station. After Hood's return from Tennessee, he rejoined the 16th Tennessee Cavalry, where he served until he was parolled at Corinth, May 15th 1865.

In 1908, he moved to Idabel, this county, and lived here until his death in October, 1920. Capt. Ray was a man whom to know was to love, and the State and county lost a good citizen and a Christian gentleman, at his death. His descendants are today among the best citizens of McCurtain County"