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S.B.M. Young
(1840 - 1924)
Home State: Pennsylvania
Education: Jefferson College
Command Billet: Company Officer
Branch of Service: Cavalry
Unit: 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry
Before Sharpsburg
He enlisted as Private in Co. K, 12th Pennsylavania Infantry for three months' service in April 1861. On 6 September 1861 he was appointed Captain, Company B, 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry.
On the Campaign
He led a squadron of cavalry from his regiment as skirmishers in advance of the Regular Army troops across the Middle Bridge and down the Boonsboro Pike toward Sharpsburg in the early afternoon of 17 September.
The rest of the War
Immediately after Antietam he was promoted to Major (20 Sep 62), later Lt Colonel (1 May 64), and then Colonel (25 Jun 64) of his Regiment. He mustered out of Volunteer service with the Regiment 1 July 1865. He was cited by brevet for his actions at the battles of Sulpur Spring, Amelia Spring, and Sailors Creek, Va, where he had commanded a Cavalry brigade.
After the War
He continued in service in the Regular Army, appointed 2nd Lieutenant, 12th US Infantry (11 May 66), then Captain, 8th US Cavalry on 28 July 1866. He was promoted to Major, 3rd US Cavalry in 1883, Lt Colonel, 4th Cavalry in 1892, and Colonel of the 3rd US Cavalry in 1897. He served at various posts in the West, including as superintendent at Yosemite NP (1896).
During the Spanish-American War, he was appointed Brig. General and Major General of Volunteers (1898). He was in command of the 2nd Brigade of the Cavalry Division at the battle of San Juan Hill (1 July 1898), and of a campaign in northern Luzon, Philipine Islands (1889). After the war he was appointed Brig General, USA (1900) and Major General (1901). In 1902 he was President of a special Board examining Medal of Honor nominations. He was the first Chief of Staff of the US Army (15 August 1903 - 8 January 1904) as Lieutenant General, and President of the War College (1 July 1902-15 August 1903) and on its Board until August 1908. He had retired from active service in January 1904, but he was present in uniform for cemonies at Arlington National Cemetery on the burial of the Unknown Soldier from WWI (11 Nov 1921).
References & notes
His service from Heitman1 and James E. Hewes, Jr., Root to McNamara: Army Organization and Administration, (Center Of Military History, US Army, 1975) posted online at CMH. His picture from a photograph published in Miller.2
More on the Web
See a brief bio and his portrait as Army Chief of Staff from CMH.
Birth
1/9/1840; Pittsburgh, PA
Death
12/1/1924; Helena, MT; burial in Arlington National Cemetery, VA
1 Heitman, Francis Bernard, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, 2 volumes, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1903 [AotW citation 30396]
2 Miller, Francis Trevelyan, editor in chief, Photographic History of the Civil War, 10 vols., New York: The Review of Reviews Co., 1911-12, Vol. 10, p. 303 [AotW citation 30397]