George W. Young was born around 1841 in Indiana to Amaziah and Mary Young. His father was a farmer who owned $600 of real estate in 1850. The family lived in Otter Creek, Indiana, until the 1850s, when they moved to Brown, Indiana. He enlisted in the Union army on June 12, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company D of the 17th Indiana Infantry later that day. In July 1861, he wrote that he was "spoiling for a fight."
The regiment took part in the siege of Corinth and the Battle of Chickamauga. He was eventually promoted to corporal. He denounced northern Peace Democrats, declaring that he "would rather shoot a Copperhead than a cursed half starved reb." He died near Farmington, Tennessee, on October 7, 1863.