Eli Daniel F. Cheatham was born around 1833 in Georgia to Arthur and Asenath Cheatham. His father was a farmer who owned $6,700 of real estate by 1850. The family lived in Jefferson County, Georgia, and by 1850, he was also working as a farmer. He married Elizabeth Liptrott on December 20, 1855, and the couple apparently had no children. He earned a living as a farmer in Jefferson County, and by 1860, he owned $300 of personal property.
He enlisted in the Confederate army on April 28, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company E of the 48th Georgia Infantry. The regiment took part in the Seven Days’ Battles, the Second Battle of Manassas, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, and the siege of Petersburg. He was wounded at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, but he eventually recovered and rejoined the regiment. He was wounded again on June 9, 1864, and he died near Petersburg, Virginia, on June 25, 1864.