Horatio Nelson Young

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Horatio Nelson Young
July 19, 1845–July 3, 1913
Allegiance	USN
Unit	USS Lehigh
Battles/wars	American Civil War
Awards	Medal of Honor

Horatio Nelson Young (July 19, 1845 – July 3, 1913) was a United States Navy sailor who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on the USS Lehigh during the American Civil War.

Young was born in Calais, Maine, a small United States-Canada border town. As a young man he lived in a place where crossing the bridge over the St. Croix River to St. Stephen, New Brunswick for employment, shopping, hospitalization, or just visiting friends, was an almost daily part of normal life. The two close-knit communities have shared services for more than two hundred years.

Following the outbreak of the American Civil War, Horatio Young traveled to Boston, Massachusetts where he joined the United States Navy. On November 16, 1863, the 18-year-old boy was serving aboard the USS Lehigh, when his ship ran aground in the Charleston, South Carolina harbor. In rough waters, and under heavy enemy fire trying to stop him, Horatio Young made several attempts until he succeeded in passing in a small boat from his ship to the USS Nahant with a line wrapped on a hawser that would enable the Lehigh to be freed from her position.

His courageous action saved the lives of many men aboard the helpless ship and he was awarded the Medal of Honor, the United States' highest military decoration.

Horatio Young died in 1913 and was interred in the St. Stephen Rural Cemetery, in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada surrounded by other Canadian and American honored war dead.