John Preston Young (1847–1934) was an American Confederate veteran, judge and historian.

Early life

John Preston Young was born on April 18, 1847, in

Chulahoma, Mississippi Chulahoma is an unincorporated community in Marshall County, Mississippi, United States. It is located in the hill country of northern Mississippi. ''Chulahoma'' is a name derived from the Chickasaw language meaning "red fox". Culture *Blues sin ...

. His father, Reverend A. W. Young, was a Presbyterian minister. Young was of Scotch-Irish and French descent on his paternal side. He moved to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, with his family at the age of twelve. Young attended the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Oxf ...

. In 1864, in the midst of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, Young joined the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

, serving under General

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealt ...

. After the war, he returned to Ole Miss and graduated.

Career

Young became a lawyer in

, in 1872. He served as a judge on the Circuit Court from 1902 to 1923. Young was a member of the Confederate Historical Association, later known as the West Tennessee Historical Society. He was elected as the vice president for West Tennessee of the Tennessee Historical Society in 1915. Young was the author of ''The Seventh Tennessee Cavalry (Confederate): A History'', ''Reminiscences of the Civil War'', ''Standard History of Memphis'', etc. Young's article entitled ''Hood's Failure at Spring Hill'' was published in the January 1908 issue of the ''

Confederate Veteran The ''Confederate Veteran'' was a magazine about veterans of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War of 1861–1865, propagating the myth of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. It was instrumental in popularizing the legend of Sam ...

'', "the most in demand of any published after the turn of the century, probably because of Judge Young's sixteen-page article and battle map regarding that controversial subject."

Personal life

Young had two sons, Garnett Young and Frazier Young, and a daughter, Lucy Young.

Death

Young died on June 6, 1934, in Memphis, Tennessee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, John Preston 1847 births 1934 deaths American people of French descent American people of Scotch-Irish descent People from Marshall County, Mississippi Writers from Memphis, Tennessee University of Mississippi alumni Confederate States Army officers Circuit court judges in the United States 19th-century American historians 19th-century American male writers Writers from Tennessee American male non-fiction writers