Pierce M. B. Young

Pierce Manning Butler Young (November 15, 1836 July 6, 1896) was an American soldier, politician, diplomat, and slave owner.[1] He was a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, and after the war a four-term United States Congressman from Georgia, before serving in the diplomatic corps.

Pierce Manning Butler Young
Major General Pierce M. B. Young
Member of the
United States House of Representatives
from 7th District of Georgia
In office
July 25, 1868  March 3, 1875
Preceded byOffice suspended during the American Civil War
Succeeded byWilliam H. Felton
Minister to Honduras
In office
November 12, 1893  May 23, 1896
Preceded byRomualdo Pacheco
Succeeded byMacgrane Coxe
Minister to Guatemala
In office
June 12, 1893  May 23, 1896
Preceded byRomualdo Pacheco
Succeeded byMacgrane Cox
Consul General of the United States
St. Petersburg, Russia
In office
1885–1887
Personal details
Born(1836-11-15)November 15, 1836
Spartanburg, South Carolina
DiedJuly 6, 1896(1896-07-06) (aged 59)
New York City
Resting placeOak Hill Cemetery
OccupationLawyer
Signature
Military service
Allegiance Confederate States of America
Branch/service Confederate States Army
Years of service18611865
Rank Major General
CommandsYoung's Cavalry Division
Young's Cavalry Brigade
Cobb's Legion
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Early life and career

Young was born at Spartanburg, South Carolina on November 15, 1836.[2] 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.[2] At the age of thirteen, Young entered the Georgia Military Institute in Marietta, and graduated in 1856.[2] He subsequently 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.[3][2]

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.[4]

Young's cavalry was attached to Wade Hampton's brigade of J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry division in the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862.[4] He was distinguished for "remarkable gallantry," as Stuart expressed it, in the Maryland Campaign.[4][5] Promoted to colonel, he rendered brilliant service at the Battle of Brandy Station and participated in the cavalry operations of the Gettysburg Campaign.[4][5][6] 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.[4][6][7] 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.[3] 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."[3][6]

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.[6] 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.[3][7]

Postbellum career

After the war, he returned to Georgia and lived as a planter.[2] He was elected to the US House of Representatives, as a Democrat for four terms (1868-1875).[2][8] Young ran for a fifth term, but was defeated by the Grange-backed candidate William Harrell Felton. Young was appointed United States commissioner to the Paris Exposition in 1878.[2] He served as consul-general at St. Petersburg, Russia (1885–87) and as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Guatemala and Honduras (1893-1896) by appointment of President Grover Cleveland.[2] Young died on July 6, 1896, in New York City, with interment in Oak Hill Cemetery, Cartersville, Georgia[2][3]

See also

References

  1. Holland, Lynwood M. (1964). Pierce M.B. Young, The Warwick of the South. University of Georgia Press.
  2. "Pierce Manning Butler Young 1836–1896". U.S. House of Representatives - Office of the Historian. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
  3. Lynwood M. Holland (August 1, 2009). Pierce M. B. Young: The Warwick of the South. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-3445-5.
  4. Craig Swain (October 20, 2015). "The most important hand-to-hand contest" of the war on Fleetwood Hill: Shock action of cavalry at Brandy Station". To The Sound Of Guns. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
  5. Major Henry Brainerd McClellan (1885). The Life and Campaigns of Major-General J. E. B. Stuart, Commander of the Cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia. Houghton, Mifflin. p. 277. ISBN 9780722209486.
  6. Alonzo Gray (1910). Cavalry Tactics as Illustrated by the War of the Rebellion: Together with Many Interesting Facts Important for Cavalry to Know. U.S. Cavalry Association.
  7. Darrell L. Collins (December 11, 2015). The Army of Northern Virginia: Organization, Strength, Casualties, 1861-1865. McFarland. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-4766-2364-1.
  8. United States. Congress. House (1873). Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 707.
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