Pierce Manning Butler Young, May 31, 1864

Eric Wittenberg

1st Lieutenant
Keeper of the Scales
Joined
Jun 2, 2013
Location
Columbus, OH
My current book project deals with the extensive, hard cavalry fighting that occurred during the period May 26-June 1, 1864. Those are:

1. Hanovertown Ferry (May 27)
2. Haw's Shop (May 28)
3. Matadequin Creek (May 30)
4. Hanover Court House (May 31)
5. Ashland (June 1)
6. Cold Harbor (May 31-June 1)

I'm doing the first really detailed monograph on these events, and my treatments of all of these events will be the most detailed ever written.

One of the interesting sidelines to this is the command structure of the North Carolina Cavalry Brigade. Its commander, Brig. Gen. James B. Gordon, was killed in action on May 11, 1864 during Sheridan's Richmond Raid. Col. John A. Baker of the 3rd NC Cavalry did a wretched job of things at Hanovertown Ferry, and a promotion to brigadier general was in the works for Lt. Col. Rufus Barringer of the 1st NC Cavalry. That promotion did not come through until the Confederate Senate approved it on June 1.

To bridge the gap. Brig. Gen. Pierce M. B. Young, recently promoted, was given temporary command of the North Carolina Cavalry Brigade and was in command of it at Hanover Court House on May 31. The Tar Heels were routed there by a determined dismounted flank attack by Col. John B. McIntosh's brigade of the Army of the Potomac's Third Cavalry Division.

Here's where it gets interesting...

There is a 1964 published biography of Young that states unambiguously that Young was severely wounded in battle on May 30, 1864 at Hanover Court House. While there was skirmishing there on May 30, the NC Cavalry Brigade was not involved in that skirmishing--it was done by his actual command (formerly Wade Hampton's brigade), temporarily commanded by Col. Gilbert J. Wright of the Cobb Legion Cavalry. There is no dispute that Wright was in command of the brigade in the May 30 skirmish.

Therefore, the published biography is wrong about the date--it had to be May 31. I set out last night to try to corroborate my conclusion and couldn't. Gordon Rhea elected not to address this in in his excellent volume on Cold Harbor. The biographical sketch of Young in Generals in Gray doesn't even mention the wounding. Nor does the longer biographical sketch in the six volume set titled The Confederate General. I did a google search. Nothing turned up one way or the other. The 1964 biography with the wrong date is the only source that I can locate that addresses Young's wounding, leaving me with a quandary on my hands.

I am inclined to include it with a statement that the date in the 1964 biography is wrong and that the account cannot be corroborated. There seems little doubt that Young was, in fact, wounded because Wright remained in command of the brigade until the fall of 1864 when Young returned to duty. But pinning down the precise date of his wounding has proved to be an interesting challenge.

Does anyone know of any other sources that might corroborate the account in the 1964 book?



PMBYoung[1].jpg


PMBYoung[1].jpg
 
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