Peter Youngs

2nd great-granduncle of Dorotha Piechocki

 

Private     Co. B     16th MI Infantry

Dates of Service:  6 Aug 1861 - 23 Sep 1863

Private    58th Co.     2nd Btn Veteran Reserve Corps

Dates of Service:  23 Sep 1863 - 26 Sep 1864

 

Private     Co. C and E     19th U.S. Infantry

Dates of Service:  Sep 1864 - 1867

 

Peter Youngs was born in 1820 in New York to George and Amanda Aldrich Youngs, the 2nd oldest child of twelve. During the early 1840's Peter's parents and most of his siblings moved into Michigan, farming in Hillsdale and Ionia Counties. When the Union called for soldiers to put down the War of the Rebellion, Peter, being single, was among the very first to answer. He enlisted in Co. B, 16th Michigan Infantry Aug. 6, 1861, mustering in at Ft. Wayne, Detroit. 

 

The regiment, comprising ten companies under the command of Col. Thomas B. W. Stockton, commenced to Washington D.C. and joined the Army of the Potomac in the Third Brigade, First Division, of the Fifth Corps on September 16, 1861, where their training continued in camp near Washington D.C. through the winter of 1861. In February 1862, an eleventh company, known as Dygert’s Sharpshooters, joined the ranks of the Sixteenth providing strength and marksmanship to the Regiment. The winter months provided these Michigan soldiers ample time to drill, train, and prepare for the coming campaign season. 

 

In All Michigan Civil War, John R. Legg writes: "In Spring 1862, the Sixteenth Michigan began to earn their prestige and reputation. Marching under the command of Fitz John Porter, the men of the Sixteenth participated in the Peninsula Campaign, an effort by George B. McClellan to force a Confederate defeat at the “gates” of Richmond. The men fought bravely at the siege of Yorktown in April 1862 and Hanover Court House a month later. At Gaines’ Mill, the Sixteenth pushed a tough contest against the Confederate forces, leading to forty-nine dead, 116 wounded, and fifty-five missing. It was one of the notable moments of the units’ history. During this battle, enemy fire wounded Colonel Stockton, leading to his capture and incarceration at Libby Prison in Richmond." 

 

Peter Youngs was among the soldiers captured during the battle of Gaines' Mill on   Jun. 27, 1862. The Prisoner of War record in his pension file "shows him captured… at Meadow Bridge, Va, conf[ine]'d at Richmond, Va, same day …. Paroled at Aiken's Landing, Va, August 5, 1862. No further information on said records."

Family stories told of Peter escaping, but army records show that he and others were paroled or traded for Confederate prisoners. These "prisoner exchanges" went on until 1864 when Gen. Grant refused to exchange them in hopes of reducing Confederate manpower. It is most likely that the family stories were embellished as the years went on.

 

On Aug. 12, Col. Stockton returned to the regiment after a prisoner trade, and the 16th marched with their army into Maryland. During the Second Battle of Bull Run on Aug. 30, the regiment lost 3 officers and 9 enlisted men killed, 4 officers and 59 enlisted men wounded and 17 men missing. On Sep. 16 - 17, the regiment was placed in reserve at the Battle of Antietam, where they assisted in the pursuit of retreating Confederate forces across the Potomac River. They spent part of Nov. at Harper's Ferry, then met the enemy again at Fredericksburg from Dec. 12 - 15, losing 3 killed, 30 wounded and 8 missing. The end of Dec. the army moved along the Rappahannock on a "Mud March" to Falmouth, where they remained until April.

 

His records show Peter was admitted to the regimental hospital with catarrh and cough on Mar. 28th, 1863, and returned to duty on Apr. 1st. From Apr. 30 - May 6, the 16th "participated in the Union disaster at Chancellorsville, VA, where the men defied odds and withheld Confederate charges for most of the engagement." [John Legg, Ibid.]

 

In his application for pension due to disability in 1887, Peter testified that in "June 1863, at or near Frederick City, Md, being unable to keep up with the Command rec'd permission to leave the ranks and march out side, & while trying to climb over a fence he slipped & fell, injuring his left ankle so that he was unable to walk for some time. I was laid up at the time three or four months."

 

Following Chancellorsville, the 16th encountered the enemy at Middleburg, VA, on Jun. 21, halting the attack. One officer was mortally wounded and 9 enlisted men wounded. "The regiment captured a Confederate Blakely Gun and 19 men after the brigade commander, Colonel Strong Vincent, gave the order to 'stop that damned battery howling.' ” - The Civil War in the East. After these engagements, Col. Stockton resigned. Legg continues in All Michigan Civil War, "As July 1863 approached, the men of the Sixteenth Michigan chased the invading Confederate army into Pennsylvania. They met at Gettysburg."

 

As Peter says that, to the best of his knowledge, his injury was sustained "in June" somewhere in the vicinity of Frederick, MD, and later muster rolls for combined Jul - Aug mark him AWOL, it appears quite evident that he avoided Gettysburg! One of the fortunates! The monument to the 16th Michigan on Little Round Top reads: "Regiment held this position during the afternoon and night of July 2, 1863, and assisted in defeating the desperate attempts of the enemy to capture Little Round Top. Present for duty 17 officers, 339 men total 356. Casualties: 3 officers 20 men killed, 2 officers 32 men wounded, 3 men missing. Total 60."

 

The Regimental Muster Rolls for the 16th report Peter "Absent without Leave" for Jul - Aug 1863; however, the Rolls for Co. I, 11th Reg't IC [Invalid Corps] report him "at convalescent camp, VA" from Sep. 23, 1863 through Feb. 25, 1864. Co. I, 11th IC was subsequently renamed the 58th Co. 2nd Btn VRC. Mar. 25, 1864, shows Peter sick in the Regimental Hospital. On Apr. 22, he was "detached from the Co. and assigned to 207th Co. 1st Batt. IC (later Co. E 18th VRC)." In the May Muster Report, he was sick in the hospital. For Jun, 1864, Regimental Hospital Records show him in "Convalescent camp Alexandria VA" where he remained Jul - Aug 1864. On Sep. 26, 1864, Peter mustered out at Detroit, Michigan.

 

Oddly as it seems given the context, Peter almost immediately reenlisted in Co. C, 19th U.S. Infantry, serving another three years and mustering out in 1867 in Madison, Arkansas, at the expiration of his service. He returned to Berlin Twp., Ionia, Michigan, and continued farming as long as he was able. He never married. Later in life, Peter suffered from his ankle injury and was admitted to the newly-built Home for Veterans in Grand Rapids, Michigan, May 7, 1887.

He died in the Home Apr. 26, 1890, and was one of the first veterans buried in the new Veterans Home Cemetery.

ADDITIONAL SOURCES: Wikipedia ; personal copies of pension from NARA; Grand

Rapids Home for Veterans application from microfiche; Fold3

 

GRAVESITE: Grand Rapids Veterans Home Cemetery, Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan

Written by Jerry and Dorotha Piechocki, April 2003

Updated June 2020