A.J., reputed to be very small in stature and not weighing more than 125 lbs., joined military service at age 16. He served in Miller Rangers; 21st Battalion, Georgia Cavalry, Company C and was transferred to the 7th Regiment, Georgia Cavalry, Company B through consolidation of units.

My father grew up living with A.J.'s son, which puts the following information gathered as second hand (not too shabby, for 140 years later).

Family lore has it that A.J. was a courier for Beauregard, us learning his regiment only after recieving the standard bronze military marker issued by the government.

He was captured near Chattanooga and was marched to Elmira. We do not know the year, but told he spent two years there, with John C. Coleman as a close friend from this locality also. The march was told (I have trouble believing a lack of some exaggeration) as being made in file with horses on either side of the men, and sustaining on one hard tack a day and only the water that was passed through while dragging their canteens.

At Elmira, they were issued two blankets to three men and the men used the term "spoon" to announce it was time to flip from laying facing one way towards the other to achieve comfort. I am aware that spooning is how this arraingement is widely know, but have never heard the word used as a verb (i.e. time to roll over) except through my family.

The trip home was arduous, being given no provisions at all upon release.

Andrew J. Youngblood rests in Emanuel County, Georgia in the Youngblood Family Cemetery on Hwy 56 very near his farm where he lived before and after the war.

Information contributed by Gregory George, GG grandson of A.J. Youngblood