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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 by	Office suspended during the American Civil War
Succeeded by	William H. Felton
Minister to Honduras
In office November 12, 1893 – May 23, 1896
Preceded by	Romualdo Pacheco
Succeeded by	Macgrane Coxe
Minister to Guatemala
In office June 12, 1893 – May 23, 1896
Preceded by	Romualdo Pacheco
Succeeded by	Macgrane 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
Died	July 6, 1896(1896-07-06) (aged 59) New York City
Resting place	Oak Hill Cemetery
Occupation	Lawyer
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Confederate States of America
Branch/service	Confederate States Army
Years of service	1861–1865
Rank	Major General
Commands	Young's Cavalry Division Young's Cavalry Brigade Cobb's Legion
Battles/wars	American Civil War Maryland Campaign Gettysburg Campaign Bristoe Campaign Mine Run Campaign Overland Campaign Carolinas Campaign

Pierce Manning Butler Young (November 15, 1836 – July 6, 1896) was an American soldier, politician, diplomat, and slave owner. 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.

Early life and career

Young was born at Spartanburg, South Carolina on November 15, 1836. His father, Dr. R. M. Young, was a son of Capt. William Young, a soldier in the American Revolution under George Washington. Young's maternal grandmother descended from the Cavaliers of England, who migrated to Maryland around the 1740s. She married Mourning Stone, who was a Loyalist during the American Revolution, and helped to give refuge to Lord Cornwallis during his campaign in South Carolina. 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. 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.

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 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.

Postbellum career

After the war, he returned to Georgia and lived as a planter. He was elected to the US House of Representatives, as a Democrat for four terms (1868-1875). 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. 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. Young died on July 6, 1896, in New York City, with interment in Oak Hill Cemetery, Cartersville, Georgia

See also

• List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)

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 2009). Pierce M. B. Young: The Warwick of the South. University of Georgia Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-8203-3445-5.
4. ^ 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.
5. ^ 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.
6. ^ 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.
7. ^ 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.
8. ^ 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.
9. United States. Congress. House (1873). Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 707.

External links

• Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1.
• Evans, Clement A., ed. Confederate Military History: A Library of Confederate States History. 12 vols. Atlanta: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899. OCLC 833588. Retrieved January 20, 2011. Volume: 6. Derry, J. T.; Georgia.
• Holland, Lynwood Mathis. "Pierce M.B. Young: The Warwick of the South". Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 1964. OCLC 1382650
• Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4.
• Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.
• United States Congress. "Pierce M. B. Young (id: Y000048)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-02-13
• Pierce Manning Butler Young historical marker

• 1836 births
• 1896 deaths
• Ambassadors of the United States to Guatemala
• American people of English descent
• Ambassadors of the United States to Honduras
• Confederate States Army major generals
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)
• People from Bartow County, Georgia
• Politicians from Spartanburg, South Carolina
• People of Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Civil War
• United States Military Academy alumni
• 19th-century American diplomats
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives