Eli Harwood
Ordinary Seaman, USS Brooklyn
Eli Harwood was born c1840 in Washington, DC. For his first enlistment, he enlisted on 22 December 1862 at New York for a one year contract as a Landsman. Harwood served that contract out on the storeship USS Union [1] and was discharged the following December. He re-enlisted on 21 April 1864 for a three year contract[2] as an ordinary seaman and was attached to the USS Brooklyn six days later on 27 April 1864 with the rating of Captain's Cook. [3], [5]
Harwood was aboard the Brooklyn during the 5 August 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay, in which action he was killed.[3], [5].
Eli Harwood was 24 years old and had been in the Navy for just under 18 months.
Interment
Unknown. The Brooklyn dead from 5 August 1864 were originally buried at Fort Powell. Some of Harwood's shipmates are in marked graves at Mobile National Cemetery. There is a large number of Civil War-era unknown graves south of the "Navy" section of Mobile National, Harwood and the other dead from the Battle of Mobile Bay that were not buried at sea might have been relocated there from Fort Powell in the late 1860s.
Dependents
Awards and Memorials
References
[1] Return of the United States Naval Rendezvous, New York for the week ending December 27 1862
[2] Return of the United States Naval Rendezvous, Brooklyn New York for the week ending April 23, 1864
[3] NARA T1099. An index to rendezvous reports during the Civil War, 1861-1865.
[4] "Report of Casualties on the USS Brooklyn" NARA "Letters Received by the Secretary of the Navy From Commanding Officers of Squadrons, 1841-1886".
[5] Muster Rolls of U.S.S. Brooklyn 1864-1865