Pierce M. B. Young
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pierce Manning Butler Young (November 15, 1839 – July 6, 1896) was a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and a post-war politician, diplomat, and four-term United States Congressman from Georgia.
Contents |
[edit] Early life and career
Young was born at Spartanburg, South Carolina. His father, Dr. R. M. Young, was a son of Capt. William Young, a soldier in the American Revolution under George Washington. When Pierce was a small boy, his father moved to Bartow County, Georgia, and enlisted private tutors for his children. At the age of thirteen, Young entered the Georgia Military Institute in Marietta, and graduated in 1856, then briefly studied law. In 1857, he was appointed to the United States Military Academy, but resigned only two months before graduation due to Georgia's secession.
[edit] Civil War
Returning home in early 1861, he was appointed second lieutenant in the 1st Georgia Infantry regiment, but declined that commission for the same rank in the artillery. In July, he was promoted to first lieutenant and was attached to the staff of General Braxton Bragg at Pensacola, Florida. He was at the same time aide-de-camp to Gen. W. H. T. Walker. In July, Young was appointed adjutant of the Georgia Legion, better known as Cobb's Legion, and was promoted to major in September and to lieutenant colonel in November, commanding the cavalry portion of the legion.
Young's cavalry was attached to Wade Hampton's's brigade of J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry division in the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862. He was distinguished for "remarkable gallantry," as Stuart expressed it, in the Maryland Campaign. Promoted to colonel, he rendered brilliant service at the Battle of Brandy Station and participated in the cavalry operations of the Gettysburg Campaign. In early August, he was wounded in another fight near Brandy Station. In October, he was promoted to brigadier general and assigned command of Hampton's old brigade, consisting of the 1st and 2nd South Carolina cavalry regiments, the Cobb Legion, Jeff Davis Legion and Phillips Legion. He was actively engaged during the Bristoe and Mine Run Campaigns, where on October 12, 1863, by adroit maneuvering, he compelled an enemy division to recross the Rappahannock River. An admiring Stuart reported, "The defeat of an expedition which might have proved so embarrassing entitles the officers who effected it to the award of distinguished skill and generalship."
In 1864, Young played a prominent part in the Overland Campaign in Virginia, and when Hampton assumed command of the cavalry after Stuart's death at Yellow Tavern, he temporarily took Hampton's place as division commander. In November, Young was sent to Augusta to gather reinforcements and aid in the defense of that city, threatened by William T. Sherman. Promoted to major general in December, he was actively engaged in the defense of Savannah and the 1865 campaign in the Carolinas under General Hampton until the close of the war.
[edit] Postbellum activities
Young settled in Cartersville, Georgia, after the war and became a prosperous farmer. Upon the readmission of Georgia to Congressional representation, he was elected as a Democrat to the Fortieth United States Congress and served from July 25, 1868, to March 3, 1869. He presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Forty-first Congress, but the House decided he was not entitled to the seat; subsequently he was formally elected to fill the resulting vacancy. Young was reelected to the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses, serving until 1875, when he was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1872, 1876, and 1880. Young then resumed his agricultural pursuits and was appointed United States Commissioner to the Paris Exposition in 1878.
From 1885–87, he was in Saint Petersburg as consul general to Russia. In 1892, he was appointed major general commanding the Georgia Division of the United Confederate Veterans. The following year, President Grover Cleveland appointed Young as envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Guatemala and Honduras. He was stricken with illness on the latter post and endeavored to reach his home, but died in the Presbyterian Hospital in New York City en route. He was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery in Cartersville.
[edit] References and links
- Holland, Lynwood Mathis, Pierce M.B. Young: The Warwick of the South, Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1964.
- Evans, Clement A., Confederate Military History, 1899.
- This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
| Preceded by American Civil War |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 6th congressional district July 25, 1868 - March 3, 1869 |
Succeeded by William P. Price |
| Preceded by New district |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 7th congressional district December 22, 1870 - March 3, 1875 |
Succeeded by William H. Felton |
