Young Pierce was born 19 July 1839 in Tennessee and came to Texas with
his mother Sabina and brother Bird Pierce.  He served in Texas Mounted 
Volunteers Company E from November 1, 1854 to February 1, 1855, a Ranger 
unit that protected settlers from Indian depradations. This service earned 
Young the right to homestead land.  He married Armelia Gray February 4, 1858.
Armelia was born July 29, 1842 in Mississippi to David Gray and his first 
wife. David married his second wife, Nancy Elms, in Izard County Arkansas in 
1846 and when they moved to Sugar Loaf in Coryell county, Texas, in 1851 
with Armelia they were among the first settlers there. 
    Young and Armelia built a cabin near Sugar Loaf Mountain on Post Oak 
Creek and not far from Cowhouse Creek.  Early morning March 16, 1859 Young 
drove his wagon to a cedar brake to cut fence posts for stock pens.  He was 
attacked by some 16 Comanche Indians, stripped of his clothing and killed.  
The Comanches then killed neighbors John and Jane Riggs and horse whipped 
David Elms, a Riggs helper who survived. Armelia Pierce was 16 years old 
and 5 months pregnant when her husband Young Pierce died at age 19. Before 
the Civil War personal firearms were rare and expensive and neither Young 
Pierce nor the Riggs were armed.  First on the scene of the massacre as 
Ambrose Lee who lived nearby.  He was described as a "crusty old frontiersman" 
and the only person there with a gun.  Armelia and her mother-in-law Sabina 
were there about the same time and took the two remaining Riggs children and 
walked two miles to "Fort Scoggin", the home of methodist preacher Jesse 
Scoggin and his son Isaac. 
    Young Pierce and the Riggs were buried in the Sugar Loaf Cemetery.  In 
1942, when Fort Hood was expanded, the Army moved these gravesites to the 
Killeen Cemetery where Armelia and Young were reinterred next to each other. 
Armelia married Stephen O'Neal February 28, 1861 and died 23 July 1898. They 
had three children.

By Eldon Pierce, great grandson of Young Pierce.