JAMES YOUNG -- 96th INFANTRYBORN LONDONDERRY -- DIED VIRGINIA - On December 6, 1861, athirty-five-year-old carpenter from Londonderry in Northern Irelandenlisted in the 96th Infantry in Rouses Point. James Young was 5'6½"tall, had blue eyes, brown hair and a dark complexion. He and 20 othermen enlisted in Rouses Point late that fall and left for Virginia inMarch 1862 after mustering at Plattsburgh Barracks.The new recruits fought on the Virginia Peninsula through the fall ofthe year suffering 144 casualties -- 97 of which were men who werecaptured by the enemy.From December 1862 when they started on the Expedition from New Bern toGoldsboro, to the end of 1863, the 96th was in North Carolina. Theexpedition, also known as Foster\'s Raid, was a series of battlesinitiated by Union General John G. Foster from New Bern to Goldsboro,with military objectives of destroying the railroads, depots, and thevital Goldsboro Bridge on the Neuse River. The bridge was burned downthus cutting the supply line from Wilmington on the coast to Confederateassets inland. While in camp at the end of the year, James re-enlistedas a veteran.In April 1864, the regiment was sent to the Seat of Battle aroundRichmond and Petersburg garnering 292 casualties on the field betweenMay and the end of October. James became a casualty of war that summer,but not on the battlefield. He became ill and was sent downstream tohospital at Fort Monroe where he died on July 16, 1864, of chronicdiarrhea. He was buried in Section E of the new Hampton NationalCemetery that had been in existence for two years to bury Union soldierswho had died in service or at Fort Monroe. So far, we have found twelvemen buried in this cemetery who enlisted in Clinton County.
