Robert – or Rob, as he was called – was born February 24, 1834, in East Fallowfield Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. His ancestors had lived in Chester County since the mid-1600s when they immigrated to the Colonies from England and Ireland. Rob’s grandfather, whom he was named after, had served in the Continental Army as a Wagon Master during the Revolutionary War.
Rob’s parents were George Washington Young (1790-1865) and Jane Elizabeth Bratton (1797-1872). They married in East Fallowfield Township on 25 Dec 1817 and had 11 children. Rob was the 9th, and it is from him that descends this line to the member of Laura Belle Stoddard Tent 22, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War 1861-1865.
In the 19th century, East Fallowfield was mostly rural farmland. In the census of 1860, a year before the Civil War began, George Young’s occupation was listed as “Farmer,” his land valued at $7,000. Like most of his neighbors, George grew wheat, rye, Indiana corn, and oats. He also had milking cows, swine, oxen, and other cattle. According to the same census, Rob lived and worked at home as one of his father’s farm laborers.
In the summer of 1862, President Lincoln put out a desperate plea for 300,000 more volunteers. After losing several key battles, the Yanks were disgusted, discouraged, and demoralized. The War they’d assumed would be over in a month had lasted well over a year – with no end in sight. To make matters worse, the Rebs were now marching into Maryland, heading for the U.S. Capitol in Washington City…
Rob answered Lincoln’s call. He enlisted in Company B, 12th PA Infantry Volunteer Militia, mustering in as a private on September 13, 1862. He received little to no training and saw the elephant four days later at the Battle of Antietam.
The Battle – and carnage – began at 5:30 a.m. in drizzly daylight. At 8:40 a.m., Rob was one of 7,000 Union soldiers (most of them raw recruits) who pushed through the Confederates who had held the East Woods. From there they entered what would eventually be known as The Bloody Cornfield.
Within an hour, 8,000 Rebs and Yanks lay dead there. Union General Joseph Hooker would later note in his report:
“In the time that I am writing, every stalk of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the slain lay in rows precisely as they had stood in their ranks a few moments before. It was never my fortune to witness a more bloody, dismal battlefield.”
The Battle of Antietam remains the bloodiest single day in America’s history with 22,270 casualties.
Rob was promoted to Corporal and, with the emergency easing and the Rebs skedaddling out of Union territory, he mustered out on September 27th, 1872. He then marched home to East Fallowfield, where in late November he married his 19-year-old sweetheart Emma Meade Sommers. Emma was the oldest of 6 children born to Jacob Sommers and Elizabeth Flowers. Jacob was a farmer and merchant, with property valued at almost $20,000. Emma was a talented seamstress who worked as a milliner before her marriage.
In March of 1863, Rob and Emma’s first child, Howard Ellsworth Young, was born.
The following June, the Rebs were closing in on the capitol of PA. Governor Andrew Curtain begged the young men of his state for assistance. He said: “The enemy is approaching! I must rely upon the people for the defense of the State and have called the militia for that purpose. The time of service will only be while the danger to the State is imminent.”
So Rob re-enlisted, joining Company K, 27th PA Infantry Militia, mustering in on June 19th, along with his younger brother George Franklin and his cousin Samuel.
Nine days later, Rob assisted at the burning of the Wrightsville/Columbia PA Bridge. Civilian volunteers from Columbia had set explosives under the bridge from the Wrightsville side, hoping to plunge the entire 200-foot span into the Susquehanna River. But when they detonated the charges, the support arch merely splintered in a few sections. The span remained passable.
The 27th took immediate action. They saturated the structure with crude oil from
A Columbia refinery. Then, as the Confederates advanced onto the bridge, the regiment set it afire, preventing the Rebs from entering Columbia. Mission completed, Rob and his company were then free to march on to Gettysburg.
The 27th’s commander would later write in his field report:
“On the 3d of July, the regiment continued in position on Cemetery Hill…when ordered to the assistance of a corps momentarily overpowered – and was for three hours
exposed to a terrific artillery fire…“During the night, Company K pushed into the outskirts of the town, and on the morning of the 4th, the Twenty-
Seventh was among the first to enter Gettysburg, to the great joy of the inhabitants.
“What a morning was that for the people of this beleaguered town! For three wearisome days of battle had they, with bated breath, awaited the issue of the conflict. In the grey dawn, they beheld with uncontrollable
gladness the soldiers of the national army advancing on all their streets!”
As soon as this “emergency” ended, and Rob’s three-month service was completed, he was promoted to Sgt. and mustered out. But a year later, in September of 1864 he was drafted. This time, though, he would not be released from duty in three months. This time, he had to sign up for three years or the duration of the war – however long that might be.
Weary of the dangers he’d faced previously in the Infantry, Rob joined the 18th PA Cavalry, Co. E. He had to start over as a private but was soon promoted to Corporal, taking part in both Grant’s Overland Campaign and Sheridan’s Shenandoah Campaign. He fought with the cavalry in the following engagements:
Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia; Battle of White Oak Swamp; Battle of Globe Tavern and the Weldon Rail Road; Battle of Charles Town, West Virginia; and the Battle of Shepherdstown, WV.
In August of 1864, on the way to the next battle at Harper’s Ferry, WV, Rob was wounded. Among other injuries, he lost a finger and was sent to the Sandy Hook Field Hospital “with remittent fever” where he was under the care of Dr. James Willard until February of 1865. Never well enough to ride again, Rob spent the remaining months of the war doing patrol duty and was discharged for injuries by General Order No. 77 A.G.O. on July 8, 1865 at Cumberland, Maryland.
After the war, Rob moved back to Chester County with his wife and son, where he worked as a carpenter. In 1866, Emma gave birth to twin daughters: Jennie Francis and Anna Cora. When the twins were age 2 and Howard was 5, the family left Philadelphia and traveled more than 1,000 miles – first by train, then covered wagon – to begin a new life in El Dorado, Kansas.
In 1862, Congress had passed the Homestead Act, which encouraged white Americans, former slaves, and poor immigrants to move to the West to claim 160 acres of ‘free’ land. Robert decided he would earn his living by helping these people travel from Philadelphia to the Wild West. Unfortunately, things did not go well for the Young family. Rob spent most of his time traveling, leaving Emma alone to care for Howard, Jennie, Cora, and a newborn son, George. After two years, the children were still fearful of the local Native Americans, Emma desperately missed her family, and George had died of Diphtheria. In 1870, Rob and his family left the prairie, returning to Chester County where he opened a paper mill.
Jennie died in 1877 at age 11, but Howard and Cora were soon joined by two more siblings Frank and Emma.
In later years, the family moved to Philadelphia, where Rob worked as a contractor and carpenter. He also became a proud member of the Grand Army of the Republic, joining the General George G. Meade Post #1 in Philadelphia. He filed for his pension on October 17th, 1871, Application Number 170,216, Certificate Number 356,366.
Rob died on November 19th, 1907 in Philadelphia, PA, and was buried at the Hephzibah Baptist Church Cemetery in East Fallowfield Township, Chester County, PA. His war buddies from the GAR served as pallbearers. They said Rob liked to brag about how his horse had been shot out from under him as he rode into Harper’s Ferry. His family said Rob used to love to sing old camp war songs around the house.
Emma filed for her Widow’s Pension on December 31, 1907, Application Number 882,182, Certificate 639,148. She continued to receive Rob’s pension until she died in 1920.