He emigrated to America when he was 24 and landed at Philadelphia; he moved to the Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania. When the Revolutionary war
started, he volunteered his services to the American cause as a private, but was quickly raised to the rank of captain. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, named
for a small stream on which the battle was fought. That battle was brought about by Generals Sir William Howe, Lord Cornwallis, and General Kurypheusen endeavoring to capture
Philadelphia, the capitol of the Continental Congress, and by Generals Washington, Green, Wayne, Sullivan and Stephens, defending it. The English had 18,000 wel-equipped soldiers
against the American force of 13,000, and a poorly equipped army. The battle was lost by the Americans, with Washington withdrawing the troops, leaving only the most severely
wounded on the field, including Captain William Mackey. After several months confined as a prisoner, he was exchanged and rejoined his regiment, though still suffering from his
wounds, until the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
Shortly after the war he moved to Berkeley County, Virginia. He had two children: William Mackey, Jr. and Sarah Mackey, who married James Faulkner.
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Captain William MACKEY was born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1738, and was an officer in the American Revolution. He was the great-grandfather of ex-Senator
Charles J. Faulkner and is buried in the Faulkner family burial ground near the Faulkner homestead of �Boydville.�
Submitted by Marilyn Gouge and extracted from History of Berkeley County, West Virginia, 1928