Council to Dedicate Historical Sites History Buffs please mark Saturday, October 26, 2002, at 2:00 o'clock p.m., on your calendar, as this is when the Northern Webster Council Improvement Council, Inc. will dedicate and unveil signs commemorating two historical sites: the McCray Rocks and the McCray Cemetery. Over one hundred and forty years ago, on February 23, 1862, Reverend James McCray, age 42, was killed by Yankee soldiers at what would later be known as the McCray Rocks. James had applied for a commission as Captain in the Confederate Army. He, Ebenezer Mace and Elias Snyder, after learning that a scouting party from Co. 8, 10th West Virginia Federal Infantry had ransacked and plundered the Mace home at Hacker Valley, decided they would run ahead of the Yankees, who were traveling north, and kill one each. They rushed to a ridge a bit southeast of Cleveland where two large rocks were located rather close together and offered, what they considered to be excellent cover. They put a pole from one rock to the other, laid down with their guns on the pole pointing in the direction from which they believed the Yankees would be approaching. Evidently the Yankees had learned of their plot, as they slipped up from behind and were raising their guns to shoot before the three Confederates knew it. Mace and Snyder got away, but James was captured and killed. James' sisters, Eliza and Rebecca, dug his grave on property owned by his brother, Evan, and buried him. James' grave was the first in the cemetery, thus the name "McCray Cemetery." The ceremony will take place approximately one mile south of Cleveland on Webster County Route 20/1. Directional signs from West Virginia State Route 20 at Cleveland will enable visitors to find the sight. The unveiling of the McCray Rocks Marker will be performed by McNeill's Rangers Camp 582, Sons of the Confederate Veterans of Morefield, West Virginia. Immediately after the ceremony, guided tours will be made to the rocks, which requires a short hike, and to the cemetery, which is accessible by vehicle. Ladies of the community will provide light refreshments for visitors at the Cleveland United Methodist Memorial Church, where people will be able to meet old friends and make new friends with those who share a common interest in the Cleveland area and, in particular, the McCray family. Later in the afternoon, attendees of the dedication ceremony are invited to enjoy a popular southern cornbread and bean dinner complete with onions and other related condiments, compliments of Tim and Jill Woody, who reside at the former Cleveland Store located just below the church. The public is invited. In case of inclement weather the ceremony will take place in the Cleveland Church.