Synopsis
The First Kentucky Brigade (afterward nicknamed "The Orphan Brigade") was formed in October, 1861 from a group of Kentucky units that had been mustered into Confederate service in southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee a few months earlier. It was the largest Confederate fighting force from the Commonwealth of Kentucky and fought with distinction, and heavy casualties, all across the South, participating in the Battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Vicksburg, Stone's River, Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge, until it was officially disbanded at Washington, Georgia in May, 1865. Writing nearly fifty years later, the author of this little book, a member of the Fourth Kentucky Regiment and one of the few surviving "Orphans," interspersed his memories of the various battles in which the Brigade was involved with comments on the blunders of certain Confederate leaders which resulted in unnecessary loss of life, singling out Generals Braxton Bragg and G.P.T. Beauregard for special criticism.
About the Author
Lot Dudley Young was born on January 22, 1842 in Nicholas County, Kentucky. He joined the Fourth Kentucky Infantry in 1862 after spending two years as a citizen soldier of the "Flat Rock Grays." Because of the State's precarious neutral position, any Kentuckian who wished to fight for the Confederacy had to travel to Tennessee. Young's unit became part of what was later christened the "Orphan Brigade." He actively served until the end of the war when he was wounded at the Battle of Jonesboro in Georgia. After convalescing for six months in hospitals, he returned to Kentucky and became a prominent farmer. In 1866, he married Belle Davis, and the couple had five children. Young died on April 3, 1926 and was buried in Carlisle, Kentucky, with the flags of both the United States and the Confederate States of America in his hands.
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