Sheridan’s Boy Hero or Rhode Island Scout

Sheridan’s Boy Hero, Henry Harrison Young, was a sometimes reckless operative, but was dashing, daring and brave, as a Rhode Island Scout. General Sheridan’s Chief of Scouts, Henry Young, was a youthful, exuberant bundle of unbridled energy, that would volunteer for any and all perilous missions, at the drop of a hat. Young always led from the front, his troopers knowing that their youthful commander would not order them anywhere or to do anything, he would not do himself. Sheridan was doing everything in his power, to corral the mobile Confederate forces and needed to gain the intelligence regarding troop and supply movement. The most expedient method was to infiltrate the enemy lines, disguised as Confederate Troopers or civilians, blend in, gain the confidence of Southern or Union sympathizers and create a clandestine havoc among the populace. Cavalry commander, General Philip Sheridan, soon discovered that he had the perfect catalyst for a successful mounted covert operation, the cavalier Henry Young.

Henry Harrison Young, was born, February 9, 1841 in Mendon, Massachusetts and was raised near Providence, Rhode Island. Henry’s father died early on and after a simple rudimentary education, his mother urged the devoted youth, to enter a business school, Schofield’s Commercial College, to prepare for a career in accounting and bookkeeping. As a teenager, at 19 years of age, Henry secured a position at the Providence firm of Lippitt and Martin.

In 1861, when the Civil War began, Lincoln called for 75,000 troops. Young, with a Military Tactics manual in hand, traveled the countryside exhorting anyone who would listen, to volunteer with himself, to join the Army and help suppress the rebellion. Youthful residents were impressed with his patriotism and 63 volunteers eagerly followed his lead. Initially Henry and his volunteers were turned away, however the commanding officer of the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry, Colonel Slocum, was so impressed with Young’s zeal and enthusiasm, that when a Second Lieutenants commission became available, he sent for Henry.

Henry Young appeared more like a boy playing soldier, than a dashing military officer. He was just a little over 5 feet tall and maybe 100 pounds dripping wet. Fair of skin, with dark hair, he tried to look more mature, with wispy sideburns and a sparse growth of chin whiskers. His immediate superior, Captain Wright of Company B, wondered what Henry Young’s future was in the Army, remarking,

“He will be flat on his back after the first march! What does that young man expect to do in the Army?”

At Dexter, outside of Providence, where the 2nd would commence training, supplies and accoutrements, were almost non-existent, including tents. Henry Young, realizing that his troopers had to sleep on the cold and barren floor of an empty warehouse, chose to forego the comforts of his officers quarters and joined his men saying, “It’s about time to turn in, boys” and contentedly wrapped himself in his coat, laid down on the floor and was soon snoring amongst the rest of the recruits.

At the Battle of First Bull Run in 1861, with all of the 2nd Rhode Island’s senior officer’s wounded or ill, Henry Young proved his leadership and grit under fire, as he led Company B into its first battlefield confrontation. Holding the line, waiting for a supporting unit, to reinforce their position, Young strode among his troopers, exhorting them to hold firm. A witness from the regiment described Henry Young thusly,

“I can remember how small he looked, his sword trailing on the ground, his slight figure so full of fire and energy.” 

Company B was one of the first commands to cross Bull Run and after the battle and demoralizing retreat Young and his Rhode Island troopers would be the last across, holding a rear guard action. Henry would write his worried mother regarding his experience in battle,

“You say you should think it (the suffering) would discourage anyone from going to war. The fact is, no one knows what fighting is till they have seen it; and they that have, after it is over and they think about it, would like to see it over again. There is excitement about it, there is a longing for it again that no one knows who has not experienced it.”

For his bravery under fire and leadership, Henry Young was quickly promoted to Captain and was rewarded with the command of Company B.

Young’s Company B saw severe action in the Peninsula and Maryland Campaigns. Captain Young’s company was among the first to cross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg and soon Henry Young found himself as an Inspector-General. This gave the youthful Captain an opportunity to travel the perimeters of the camps, exploring the exterior lines and observing enemy movements and dispositions. Young writes home to his mother,

“It is sad horses and forage are scarce in the South, but their cavalry seem to be in pretty good condition, and are raiding all around us with considerable success; we need some bold stroke on this side to enspirit the army.”

Henry Young was materially active at the Battles of Marye’s Hill, Salem Heights and Gettysburg. All this time he was honing his skills as a scout and enemy observer, being fidgety and easily bored, Young explained to his mother the excitement and adventure of his stealthy forays,

“I went out the other day with two of our boys, all mounted on mules, on a little expedition over the mountains. We advanced some six miles outside of our picket lines, and found ourselves among the guerrillas; after we had crossed what is called Carter’s Run, we were fired upon, and had a pretty hard scrabble in getting away; one of our boys lost his mule and equipments. As soon as the firing commenced, the mule balked and would not stir a step, and he was so hard pressed he had to take to the woods afoot, but came in, finally, all right, and on his way back had the good luck to capture somebody’s stray horse. I shall explore that section again at an early day. A scout’s life is a dangerous one, to a certain extent, but I don’t know, after all, that it is more so than a great many other positions. It is quite exciting, sometimes, at all events.”

Henry Young, as a staff officer for Colonel Oliver Edwards, had been performing intelligence and scout duty, often dressed in Confederate disguise, in order to mingle and garner first hand information from within the enemy ranks. On one of these stealthy missions, he and his two cohorts returned with information that was vital to General Sheridan. The Cavalry General demanded that Captain Young join his personal staff stating,

“I have been looking for that man for two years, and I want him, I will make him a major and a personal aide-de-camp on my staff, I will let him pick a hundred men and arm them and command them as he likes, and will report only to me.”

Henry Harrison Young was promoted to Major in the late Fall of 1864 and became a member of the Command Staff of General Philip Sheridan as Chief of Scouts. Major Young selected his own men, had the independence to send them when and wherever he deemed most advantageous. All his scouts dressed in Confederate Gray or civilian homespun, in order to gain the advantage in their surreptitious operations in the southern countryside.

Major Young was not a desk bound administrator and this is what endeared him to his operatives. One would more likely than not, find the stealthy Major in the saddle, disguised with his men on the most perilous of missions.

Two of Sheridan’s staff described Major Young’s Scouts thusly,

“They turn out in full uniform of the enemy — being surrounded by friends — and
with two pistols in the belt and one in each boot, these walking arsenals walk
into everything that does not belong to them and help themselves.”

“Young’s men were managed differently and proved of great service, being much
more afraid of the general and the major than they were of the enemy, for the
former had a way of cross-examining fatal to a lie, and as the major was
constantly off in the enemy’s country himself, his men were never certain that
he had not followed them.”

Major Young and his Scouts became a feared and deadly foe, many of their exploits were mundane, such as discovering recruiting offices, returning at night, capturing arms caches and Confederate officers. Conducting forays against outposts and gathering intelligence on Confederate movements and troop strength. Others involved the ambushing of Rebel raiders and partisans or the capture and interrogation of ranking officers, such as the hijacking of Colonel Harry Gilmor, commander of the infamous Confederate partisan rangers.

During the last days of the siege of Petersburg and Richmond, Sheridan and his men were swinging around the Confederate right flank, when Picket’s rearguard was caught at Namozine Church. Major Young and his Scouts captured Brigadier General Rufus Barringer and his cavalrymen. The Scouts also commandeered Lee’s four train loads of supplies at Appomattox Station, however  history only records General Custer’s capture of the goods.

After the surrender of Lee and Johnston, Young remained in the Army returning to Washington with Sheridan. In May General Sheridan was ordered to take command of the department of the Gulf, to defeat General Kirby Smith in Texas and to keep a close tab on the conflict in Mexico. Smith soon surrendered, Sheridan set up his headquarters in Brownsville and summoned his old staff, including Lieutenant-Colonel Young. The situation in Mexico was tenuous, with a French backed puppet in Mexico City and the freedom fighters of Benito Juarez. In late 1866 Major Young and around a dozen of his most trusted scouts crossed the Rio Grande, to act as a bodyguard for Mexican General Escobedo. Mistaken for imperialists, they were all shot and killed. Major Henry Young was only 26 years old. A letter from General Sheridan, stated, “Colonel Young had been seen alive and well in Monterey,”  Whether this was fact or fiction no one knows for sure whether he perished in the fight at the Rio Grande, or languished within the walls of a Mexican prison.

General Sheridan officially writes,

“Major Young’s record during the war, if the details could be gathered, would be of
more interest than any romance of war ever written. I shall always remember him
with pride and affection.”

Sheridan’s Boy Hero, Henry Harrison Young, was not just a Rhode Island Scout, but the kind of patriot and success story that has always made America great.

Bummer