Coxswain Gustave Englebrecht was the first U.S. Navy personnel killed in the Pacific.

His remaining records state that he enlisted 15 June 1855 from California. (This could have been a second or third enlistment, due to rank.)

Coxswain Englebrecht was assigned to the Pacific Squadron and served aboard the U.S.S. Massachusetts (built 1845) in the Puget Sound area of what was then Washington Territory. His ship and crew were in the area following the Indian War of 1855-56 between white settlers and the Haidu natives.

In November 1856, a Haidu raiding party of about 300 warriors entered Puget Sound and threatened Teekalet/Port Gamble. The settlers contacted the local U.S. Army unit (at Fort Steilacoom), and they turned the operations over to the steamship U.S.S. Massachusetts, commanded by Commander Swartout.

On 20 November, the U.S.S. Massachusetts steamed into Gamble Bay. There were two days of fighting, and in the exchange of gunfire, Coxswain Englebrecht was struck in the head by a Haidu bullet. Although negotiations ended the immediate combat, it did not end hostilities between the native people and settlers.

Coxswain Englebrecht was buried on a hill overlooking Port Gamble in what would become Buena Vista Cemetery (Port Gamble Historic Cemetery), Poulsbo, Washington.

Note: 26 Haida warriors were buried in a mass grave nearby.

Englebrecht, Gustave, PO