Biography of Alvin F. Young :Pittsfield, Merrimack Co., New Hampshire

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Submitted by: Jody Goodson  kestrell@prodigy.net
Date: May 14, 2001
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From the Book
'History of Pittsfield, N. H. in the Rebellion'
by H. L. Robinson, published 1893

Note: A picture of Alvin F. is in the book.

Page 178 & 179

ALVIN F. YOUNG.

     One of the very few men who entered the service at the beginning of the
war, remained until its close, and came home without a wound or having been
sent to the hospital from sickness, was Alvin F. Young. He was in over
forty engagements, eighteen of which were regular pitched battles, and was
never hit.

     He was born in Barnstead, near Gilmanton town line, February 20, 1842,
a son of Andrew J. and Sally (Seavy) Young, and moved to Pittsfield in 1849.
On the breaking out of the war he ran away from home and enlisted in Company
E, Second New Hampshire volunteers; was mustered into service June 3, 1861,
and reenlistcd January I, 1864; was re-mustered February 2, 1864, and was in
every engagement but one in which his regiment was engaged.

     When our forces were driven back at Chancellorsville, while engaged in
clearing a road through some fallen timber he wrenched his back, which laid
him up for a few days. This was the only time that he was ever excused from
duty.

     Before the Battle of Williamsburg, Comrade Young had been troubled with
rheumatism. When he learned that there was to be a fight, he begged
permission to join his company. While lying in an old ditch (said by the
natives to be a rifle-pit dug during the Revolution), not far from Fort
Magruder, Young said to the man at his side, "See me pick that man off from
his horse," indicating a rebel who had just appeared at one corner of the
fort. Young raised his rifle and fired. The man gave a convulsive grasp at
the mane of his horse and fell from the saddle, while the animal ran
riderless away.

     All day long the rain poured down, but despite his rheumatism he
continued in the battle with his comrades. He was considered a crack shot,
and several times during his service he was detailed to act as a
sharpshooter, and in this capacity he served with the members of Company B.
His father had been a captain in the old New Hampshire militia, and was
known far and wide as Captain "Andry.'

     When Alvin enlisted some of his friends advised his father, as he was
under age, to take him out of the army. "I won't do it," replied the old
man, "what good would it do? He would go again, and I don't blame him. If I
was young enough I'd go myself." Alvin Young was drowned in Strafford,
N. H., December 9, 1875.

     There were a very few others who enlisted, but after taking the oath
to defend their country from all enemies they basely deserted their flag and
forever were held in detestation by all men; only one of them ever dared to
return to Pittsfield to live. For the sake of their families let their names
sink into oblivion, but for those brave men who died in the service, no
words of mine can exalt them in the memory of their townsmen.

Illustrious dead!  Had I Apollo's lyre
I'd breathe an offering worthy of their name,
Applauding heroes should their feats admire,
And countless thousands should their deeds proclaim;

I'd paint their valor in auroral beams, 
I'd sing their toils in symphonies untold,
I'd search the empires for their sweetest dreams, 
And 'grave its charms on leaves of burnished gold;

I'd shield their names from "the shock of time," 
And bear their memories to a race unborn;
The sage should praise in eulogy sublime
The sterling virtues which their lives adorned;

I'd rob the seasons of their brightest gems,
I'd snatch the rainbow from the vaulted sky,
And with sunbeams wreathe them diadems,--
To crown their brows with immortality.