Pvt. Eli J. Gordon, CSA

Eli Gordon served in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War as a private in Company I, 32nd Regiment, Virginia Infantry. He enlisted on June 23, 1863 at Petersburg, Virginia. On May 13, 1864, he was admitted to Chimborazo Hospital No. 4, at Richmond, Virginia because he had a fever and was suffering from erysipelas. He stayed there until he was transferred to Chimborazo Hospital No. 5, at Richmond, Virginia on June 3, 1864. Gordon returned to his regiment on July 18, 1864 and served with his regiment until his capture by Federal Forces at the Battle of Five Forks on April 1, 1865. After his capture, Eli Gordon was sent to Point Lookout Military Prison in Maryland where he stayed from April 6, 1865 until his release on June 13, 1865.

Provided that Eli Gordon was not absent from his regiment (with the exceptions listed above), he most likely took part in the Battle of New Bern (1864), the Siege of Petersburg, and the Battle of Five Forks.

After the Civil War, Eli Gordon enlisted in the United States Army on November 22, 1870 as a private in Company E, 13th United States Infantry Regiment. He deserted on September 19, 1871, but apparently made his way back to his regiment (the portion which probably describes this is illegible). He was discharged on January 2, 1874 at Camp Douglas (now Fort Douglas) in Salt Lake City, Utah. After his discharge, Eli Gordon stayed in Utah and spent the rest of his life living in Wasatch County, Utah as a farmer.

The story of Eli Gordon and his family in Utah can be found here: Story of Eli Gordon and family as told in "How Beautiful Upon the mountains."

Sources:

• Civil War Service Records on Fold3.com. Publication Title: "Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Virginia," Publisher: NARA, Record Group: 109, State: Virginia, Roll: 0782. See "Media" for a PDF of the service records.
• Eli Gordon in the 1890 Veteran Schedules. Ancestry.com. 1890 Veterans Schedules [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.
• Timeline for the 32nd Virginia Infantry Regiment on civilwarintheeast.com.
• Eli Gordon in Ancestry.com. U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Image on Ancestry.com

Further Information:

• Wikipedia article about the Battle of Five Forks, Eli Gordon's regiment was assigned to Corse's Brigade of Pickett's Division.
• Wikipedia article on the 32nd Virginia Infantry.
• Timeline for the 32nd Virginia Infantry Regiment on civilwarintheeast.com.
• A detailed history of the 13th Regiment of Infantry can be found at history.army.mil.

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• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Mar 11 2016, 4:29:09 UTC

Life story https://familysearch.org/photos/stories/14039669