He served throughout the American Civil War with the Union Army, and helped organize two regiments of United States Colored Troops.

He joined the 14th Wisconsin Infantry as it was still being organized near Savannah, Tennessee; from there, they were summoned to the nearby Battle of Shiloh, which had begun unexpectedly.

They arrived at the battlefield on the evening of the first day of the battle, and were then engaged in heavy fighting throughout the second day—charging and seizing an enemy battery, suffering 146 casualties (out of about 600 men active at the time).

Abram Van Eps Young was a major in the New York militia and served in the cavalry during the War of 1812.

[5] Van Eps Young married Arilsle Crane Seaman, of Lancaster, New York, on August 26, 1852, at Sheboygan.

Their eldest son, Abram Van Eps Young, became a notable scholar and was chairman of the chemistry department at Northwestern University for 34 years.