Pierce M . B . Young Pierce Manning Butler Young ( November 15 , 1836 – July 6 , 1896 ) was a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and a post - war politician , diplomat , and four - term United States Congressman from Georgia . Early life and career . Young was born at Spartanburg , South Carolina . His father , Dr . R . M . Young , was a son of Capt . William Young , a soldier in the American Revolution under George Washington . 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 Campaign s , 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 for four terms ( 1868 - 1875 ) , served as consul - general at St . Petersburg , Russia ( 1885 – 87 ) and was US minister to Guatemala and Honduras ( 1893 - 1896 ) . Young died on July 6 , 1896 , in New York City .