James McDermund

James McDermund was born in Ireland c1838. He was a Confederate captured as a prisoner of war and held at Rock Island, from where he switched sides and enlisted in the US Navy on 24 January 1864 as a landsman for a three year contract ^[1] Per his rendezvous index card, McDermund was attached to the USS Brooklyn on 20 April 1864. ^[2]

McDermund was aboard the Brooklyn during the 5 August 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay, in which action he was killed after being struck by a shell.^[3].

James McDermund was 26 years old and had been in the Navy for nearly seven months.

Interment

Unknown. The Brooklyn dead from 5 August 1864 were originally buried at Fort Powell. Some of McDermund'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, McDermund 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, Chicago Confederate Prisoners from Rock Island and Camp Douglas for the week ending January 1864

^[2] NARA T1099. An index to rendezvous reports during the Civil War, 1861-1865.

^[3] "Report of Casualties on the USS Brooklyn" NARA "Letters Received by the Secretary of the Navy From Commanding Officers of Squadrons, 1841-1886".

^[4] Muster Rolls of U.S.S. Brooklyn 1864-1865

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