Pierce M. B. Young

Biography

Pierce M. B. Young entered military service as the nation divided, rising to the rank of brigadier general in the Confederate Army and later returning to civilian life as a lawyer and farmer in Georgia. In 1875 he began what would become more than a decade of service in the United States House of Representatives, where he defended the interests of his state and the agricultural communities he knew well.

His final public role took him abroad as the U.S. minister to Guatemala, where he maintained diplomatic ties and represented American values with courtesy until his death, leaving behind a record of steady, if complex, devotion to his country.