Young Marshall Moody (Alabama Biography)

MOODY, YOUNG MARSHALL, business man and brigadier general, C. S. Army, was born June 23, 1822, in Chesterfield County, Va., and died September 18, 1866, in New Orleans, La.; son of Carter and Sarah (Pankey) Moody, natives of Chesterfield County, Va.; grandson of Lewis and Catherine (Gatewood) Moody, of Essex County, Va., and of Stephen Pankey, who was a colonel in the Revolutionary War. The Moody family is of English descent, the earliest ancestors settling in Richmond County upon their arrival in America. The Pankeys are of French ancestry, and had land grants In Chesterfield County when arriving in this country, which are on file in the Confederate Museum in Richmond, Va. General Moody was educated in the schools of Richmond, Va., and when nineteen years of age entered the tobacco business with the firm of Pankey and Branch. In 1842 he came to Alabama and settled in Marengo County, where he taught school and merchandized. In 1856, he was appointed circuit clerk, and in 1858, he entered the service of the Confederate States, as a captain in the 11th Alabama infantry regiment. After seeing service in Virginia for a year he returned to this State and assisted in organizing the 43rd Alabama infantry regiment of which he became lieutenant colonel. The regiment was ordered to Chattanooga and placed under General Leadbetter, and later served under Gen. Kirby Smith in his Kentucky campaign, in which, however, it was not actively engaged. The organization of General Smith's forces about October 31, 1862, shows Colonel Moody as commanding the 43rd Alabama. At the battle of Chickamauga, Colonel Moody led his regiment so well that General Gracie said of him: "Col. Y. M. Moody of the Forty-third Alabama regiment, always at the head of his regiment on the march, maintained the same position on the field, rallying and encouraging his men." Colonel Moody commanded his regiment in General Longstreet's campaign in East Tennessee and saw active service at the siege of Knoxville and Bean's Station. In 1864, Grade's brigade was sent to reinforce Beauregard at Petersburg. At the battle of Drewry's Bluff, May 16, 1864, Colonel Moody was wounded in the ankle, being rendered unable for duty for some months. Upon the death of General Gracie, on December 2, 1864, Colonel Moody assumed command of the brigade which was composed of the 23rd Alabama battalion of sharpshooters, and the 41st, 43rd, 59th, and 60th Alabama regiments. He was in command of the brigade around Petersburg during the winter of 1864-65, and was commissioned a brigadier-general, March 4, 1865. On the day before General Lee's surrender at [Appomatox] he was captured while sick and with the wagon train. Upon the cessation of hostilities he returned to Mobile, where he engaged in banking and conducted a commission merchant's business. In September, 1866, while in New Orleans relative to establishing a branch of his business in that city, he was stricken with yellow fever and died in that city. He was a Methodist and a Mason. Married: in Petersburg, Va., to Frances Annette, daughter of Colonel Floyd of that place. Children: 1. Carter L., m. a Miss Culver of Mobile, resides in Texas. Their children are Carriola, Bessie Elizabeth, Carter L. jr., and Frances Annette. Last residence: Mobile.