Charles B. Young – Private, United States Army

Young, Charles B., 1829-1864

Correspondence, 1864, 1865. 1 folder.

Correspondence from Young, includes: a letter to “Dear Father, Wife and Children,” dated October 30, 1864, in Chattanooga (Tennessee), describing a lack of tents and equipment; eating hardtack; traveling from Jackson (Michigan) to Indianapolis (Indiana), Louisville (Kentucky), and Nashville (Tennessee); men in his unit from Gratiot and Shiawassee Counties, and lots of Confederate prisoners of war.

Letter “No. 2” from Nashville (Tennessee), dated November 8, 1864, describes a trip to Atlanta (Georgia) from Chattanooga (Tennessee), burnt locomotives, devastated country, hopes that the war will end, and Young asks his wife to kiss his children daily.

A note from Young in Nashville (Tennessee), dated December 7, 1864, describes good food, a skirmish, signs of campfires, many sick, and that all but two of his tentmates are hospitalized.

His last letter to “Dear Family,” dated December 22, 1864, notes that his comrades drove Rebels father back, captured troops and artillery, were on night maneuvers, the battlefields were covered with dead and wounded soldiers, rain soaked supplies, and that he has been sick.

The last letter is from John S. Young, Charles' brother, to “Dear Father,” dated February 28, 1865, and notes that he received Father's letter about Charles' death, his sorrow for Charles' wife (Elmira) and children, and that he will try to send money and get Charles' back pay. There is also a photocopy of Charles' service record.

Biography:

Charles Young

Enlisted in Company I, 23rd Michigan Infantry in Coe Township (Isabella County, Michigan) in 1864, at age 35. He was mustered on September 22, 1864 and joined the regiment on November 12, 1865. He died of disease in Washington, D.C., on February 10, 1865, and was buried at the National Cemetery in Arlington (Virginia).

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