My Horse Thief Everyone told me when I started doing genealogy, that I would eventually come across a horse thief... and I ultimately did.... sort-of. Of course, the definition of a horse thief is subjective, and determined by what SIDE of things you are ON.. Francis Neeley was a teenager when Gen. Greene's trops came to stay at his home, in North carolina, on Third Creek, between Iredell and Rowan Counties, as guests of his parents, Richard Neeley and Mary Duncan Neeley, the night before the battle of Guilford Courthouse. The weather had been awful and the troops were muddy, tired and hungry. Mary Duncan had made all the family's clothing, so she was able to provide clean trousers for the men. They had a stocked larder, so were able to feed them for the night and send them on their way with sorghum and cornbread and other food to hold them for a short time. The horses were just as tired and muddy as the men; so while the troops rested, Francis Neeley went out to " procure" fresh horses. A friend named Gilley went with him. They managed to find the needed horses, and bring them home... while escaping from the owners by hiding in a stand of tall grass. Gilley was caught. And so it was that on the following day, riding these "procured" horses, that Gen. Greene and his troops fought a vallant battle at Guilford Courthouse, that some say was the turning point ot the Revolutionary War. For the Colonists who wanted to be free of England, Francis was a hero, a patriot... BUT according thto the English law of the day, he was a horse thief. Francis Neeley was my g3rd ggfa. Cackycline