by Richard Holmes Knight, Esq.
Samuel Baldwin Marks Young enlisted in Company K, 12th Pennsylvania Infantry on April 25, 1861, with the rank of private, and retired from the United States Army on January 9, 1904, with the rank of lieutenant general. In between, S.B.M. Young commanded the 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry and was breveted a brigadier general at the age of 25; was mustered out of service in 1865, only to return months later with the rank of second lieutenant; was assigned to the 8th U.S. Cavalry and languished in the rank of captain for seventeen years; was transferred back-and-forth between the 3rd and 4th U.S. Cavalries, was a veteran of the Indian Wars; served as acting superintendent of both Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks; was the hero of Las Guasimas in the Philippine Insurrection and helped secure Aguinaldo’s defeat on Luzon; was the first president of the U.S. Army War College; and was the U.S. Army’s last commanding general and its first chief-of-staff.
Sam Young was born on January 9, 1840, at Forest Grove near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the ninth of eleven children born to John Young, Jr., a colonel in the Pennsylvania militia and the former Hanna Phillips Scot. Raised on a farm, he graduated from Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and began a career in surveying and civil engineering. With the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion, he enlisted in the 12th Pennsylvania Infantry, a 90-day regiment, and was discharged on August 5, 1861. Returning home, Sam organized a company of cavalry, married Margaret Jane McFadden on September 2, 1861, and returned to active service on September 6, 1861 as captain of Company B, 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry.
The first major engagement in which Captain Young participated was the Seven Days Campaign. Major General Fitz John Porter observed that Young had brilliantly handled two squadrons of cavalry in repulsing an enemy charge at Gaines Mill. A few days later, Major General George B. McClellan asked Captain Young to lead the advance to Harrison’s Landing.
At Antietam on September 17, 1862, Captain Young led two squadrons of cavalry across Antietam Creek at Rohrbach Bridge, even though Confederate artillery had the exact range of the bridge. Crossing it, the attacking party cut through a heavy skirmish line and climbed the hill overlooking Sharpsburg, where it was pinned down by the concentrated fire of two batteries. The small force lost eight horses and more than twenty men killed or wounded, but Captain Young held his ground. On September 20, 1862, he was notified of his promotion to major by Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin of Pennsylvania, who congratulated him on his conduct at Burnside Bridge. During the Gettysburg Campaign he served with the cavalry force commanded by Brigadier General David McMurtrie Gregg and fought against J.E.B. Stuart at Hanover, Pennsylvania. Later that year, on October 12, 1863, in action along the Rappahannock River, Major Young was struck by a Minie ball that shattered his right elbow.
After a six-month medical leave, Major Young returned to active duty and was promoted lieutenant colonel on May 1, 1864, and colonel seven weeks later. After action in the Shenandoah and Harper’s Ferry, Colonel Young led a provisional brigade at the Second Battle of Kernstown on July 24, 1864. There he was wounded again in the right arm, suffering two bone fractures. The arm was saved from amputation, and, after another three-month medical leave, Colonel Young rejoined the replenished 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry before Petersburg in October 1864.
Colonel Young distinguished himself particularly in the closing days of the war. On April 9, 1865, he led a brigade against Major General Thomas Rosser’s command. In just four days, beginning April 5, 1865, Colonel Young was breveted twice for “gallant and meritorious services in action” and once for “the campaign terminating with the surrender of the insurgent army under General R.E. Lee.” Following the surrender at Appomattox, Brevet Brigadier General Young petitioned the War Department for a commission in the Regular Army. Although many prominent officers endorsed his application, he was mustered out of service with the 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry on July 1, 1865. He had participated in eighteen battles, sixteen engagements, and thirteen skirmishes.
After the Civil War, Samuel Young secured an appointment in the Regular Army with the rank of captain. For the next fifteen years he served primarily in the Southwest with the 8th U.S. Cavalry, seeing action against hostile Native Americans. After a term as a cavalry instructor at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the now-Major Young – promoted August 2, 1883 – transferred to the 3rd U.S. Cavalry and again served in the Southwest for six years. In 1892 he was promoted lieutenant colonel and transferred to the 4th U.S. Cavalry in 1893. In 1896, Lieutenant Colonel Young commanded a squadron in Yosemite National Park and served as Acting Superintendent for nearly seven months. Upon promotion and reassignment to the 3rd U.S. Cavalry in 1897, Colonel Young took command of the cavalry detachment at Yellowstone National Park, where he again served as Acting Superintendent for almost five months. On May 4, 1898, Colonel Young was promoted Brigadier General, U.S. Volunteers.
During the Spanish-American War, Brigadier General Young commanded a brigade in the Santiago Campaign and “won the fight at Las Guasimas on the 24th of June 1898” (General Orders No. 71, War Department, January 9, 1904). He was promoted Major General, U.S. Volunteers on July 8, 1898. He later served in the Philippine Insurrection, commanding the cavalry advance of Lawton’s Division in its march through northern Luzon. Major General Young served as Military Governor of Northwestern Luzon and afterward commanded the 1st District, Department of Northern Luzon for ten months, until February 28, 1901. He had been discharged from the U.S. Volunteers and appointed Brigadier General in the Regular Army on January 2, 1900, and was promoted Major General on February 2, 1901. That same year he returned to California and took command of the Department of California. In 1902, strongly supported by President Theodore Roosevelt, Major General Young became the first president of the U.S. Army War College.
With the mandatory retirement of Lieutenant General Nelson A. Miles on August 3, 1903, Major General Young was appointed Commanding General of the U.S. Army, a post he held for eight days. On August 15, 1903, Lieutenant General Young was appointed Chief-of-Staff of the Army, a position he held until his own mandatory retirement on January 9, 1904.
Lieutenant General Young became a Companion of the First Class of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion on October 17, 1888, through the Pennsylvania Commandery and was assigned Insignia #6477. He transferred to the Missouri Commandery in 1891, where he served as Senior Vice Commander, and then to the California Commandery, where he served as Commander from May 13, 1896, to May 5, 1897. He later transferred to the District of Columbia Commandery. Lieutenant General Young was elected Commander-in-Chief of the Loyal Legion in 1915 and served until 1919, when he was succeeded by Lieutenant General Nelson Appleton Miles.
Following his military career, Samuel Young engaged in a number of activities, including serving again as Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park from 1907 to 1908, making him the only person to hold that position twice. From 1910-1920 he served as governor of the Soldiers’ and Sailors Home in Washington, DC. He retired to Helena, Montana in 1920 and died there on September 1, 1924. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, and the flag used to drape his coffin, later buried with him, was supplied by the Loyal Legion.
General Young was first married to Margaret Jane McFadden in 1861, by whom he had five daughters. She died on April 25, 1892, and is buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1908 he married Mrs. Anna Dean Huntley of Helena, Montana. The author of this article is General Young’s great-great grandson and Past-Commander of the Provisional Commandery of Tennessee.