On March 30, 1854 George married Eliza Gardner.
  On September 16, 1861 a group of men from Yancey County, including George W. Young, enlisted to serve in the Confederate Army. This company was then assigned to the 29th NC Regiment and designated as Company K. The regiment was organized in Asheville, and the commanding officer of the regiment was Colonel Robert Vance- brother of NC governor Zeb Vance. At the end of October the regiment was transferred to Raleigh. After three weeks in Raleigh the regiment was sent to East Tennessee and arrived at Jonesboro on November 30. Throughout the winter of 1861-1862 the regiment was stationed in eastern Tennessee, and on February 20, 1862 they were at Cumberland Gap. Two months later on April 29, 1862 the regiment saw action during a Union attack on Cumberland Gap.
 On May 1, 1862 George W. Young transferred from Company K to Company I of the 29th Regiment. According to pension records, it was at about this time that two of George's brothers enlisted in Company I, and one of the company officers was George's brother-in-law David Mc. Young. During June and July of 1862 there was a general reorganization of Confederate forces in Tennessee, and the 29th NC Regiment became part of the Second Brigade of the First Division in the Department of East Tennessee.  The brigade commander was General James Rains.
  In August 1862 the brigade marched to Kentucky in support of Bragg's invasion of that state. After Bragg's defeat at Perryville on October 8, the Confederate forces retreated back to East Tennessee. A series of troop movements in Tennessee followed, with the 29th Regiment being variously deployed to Lenoir Station, Normandy Station, Manchester, Readyville, and McMinnville. On Christmas Day, 1862 the regiment was sent to Mufreesboro, and on December 31 the battle at Mufreesboro began and continued for the next two days.
 The 29th Regiment was heavily engaged on the first day of battle, and their brigade commander Gen. James Rains was killed. Altogether, the regiment lost 60 men killed and wounded at Mufreesboro.
  After the battle Confederate forces retreated in the direction of Shelbyville. The 29th Regiment would remain encamped in or near Shelbyville until May 1863. It was here at Shelbyville on February 12, 1863 that George W. Young died (date taken from Young family bible). The cause of his death was not reported; he may have been wounded at Mufreesboro a few weeks before, but more likely he succumbed to one of the diseases so prevalent in Civil War army camps. (When the 29th Regiment left Shelbyville, Col. Robert Vance was ill with typhoid and remained behind; perhaps George W. Young died from the same disease.) According to caretaker records, George Washington Young is buried at Shelbyville in Willow Mount Cemetery, Range 4 on Confederate Lane, and the date of his death was Feb. 13, 1863.
 

CHILDREN OF GEORGE AND ELIZA YOUNG
1) Laura Young (Dec. 28, 1857- April 16, 1942) m. Alfred Burton. Buried at Bald Creek Cemetery.
      Children include: Mrs. Maphra Anglin (1887-1939), William 'Willie' Burton (1889-1952),
      Molt Burton (of Marion), Mrs. Edna Hilemon (Jonesboro, TN), Mrs. N.A. Hensley (West Asheville),
      Mrs. Nannie Lou Hensley (1897-1987).
2) William Young m. Emma Haynes.

After George's death, Eliza remarried Alex Angel. Angel apparently adopted Eliza and George's children, for daughter Laura's death certificate lists Angel as her father.