James Wood Bush

James Wood Bush (c. 1844 – April 4, 1906) was a citizen of the Kingdom of Hawaii, who was among a small number of Hawaiians who fought in the American Civil War. In later life, he converted to Mormonism and became an active member of the Hawaiian Mission.

Early life

James Wood Bush was born in Honolulu. The date of his birth is uncertain with different sources claiming October 1844, 1845 or 1848.^[1][2][3][4] He was the son of George Henry Bush (1807–1853), a native of Suffolk, who came to Hawaii from England in 1825, and his Hawaiian wife.^[5][6][7] Thus he was of mixed native Hawaiian and Caucasian descent, known as hapa haole in Hawaiian, although he was referred to in his lifetime as a half-caste.^[8] His older brother was John Edward Bush, who would later became a newspaper publisher and politician, serving as a cabinet minister under King Kalākaua and as royal governor of Kauaʻi.^[2][9] Not much is known about Bush's life, before 1864. Like his brother, he started out his career as a sailor working on either merchant or whaling ships in the Pacific.

American Civil War

Bush served as a sailor on the USS Vandalia during the war.

After the outbreak of the American Civil War, King Kamehameha IV declared the neutrality of the Kingdom of Hawaii. However, most inhabitants of the islands were sympathetic to the North because of the strong New England ties of the early American Protestant missionaries. Many Hawaiians voluntarily chose to fight in the war. Bush was no exception. After arriving in New England, he enlisted at Portsmouth as an "Ordinary Seaman" on September 27, 1864. For the duration of his service, he worked on the USS Vandalia and later the USS Beauregard, a captured Confederate vessel, chasing blockade runners off West Florida. He developed chronic laryngitis and spinal injuries because of his service in the Union Navy and was discharged in September 1865 at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital. After the war ended, the impoverished Bush had no way to return to Hawaii. For the next decade, he lived New Bedford, San Francisco, and Tahiti, finally returning to Hawaii in 1877.^{[1][10][11][12]} In 1905, after Hawaii become a US territory, he was granted a pension for his service in the Civil War with back pensions dating from May 8, 1897.^{[13][14][1][10]}

Later life

After returning to Hawaii, he settled down on the island of Kauai. In 1880, Bush was listed as the tax collector of Kawaihau, Kauai.^[15] In 1882, his older brother in his capacity as Minister of Interior appointed him Road Supervisor for the District of Hanalei to replace Christian Bertlemann who resigned.^[16] In 1887, Bush converted to Mormonism and was ordained an elder after two years and took an active part in the missionary work in the islands. He became the bishop of the LDS ward in Kealia and was a host to LDS historian Andrew Jenson during his visit to Kauai in 1895.^{[8][3][4][17]} Bush married around 1894 to a young girl at Lahaina, traveling to Kona after their marriage.^[18]

Bush died of heart failure at Kealia, Kauaʻi on April 24, 1906. In the last years of his life, he was a janitor at the Kealia prison. He was survived by his wife and son.^[2] Lorenzo Taylor, writing for the Deseret News, stated: "[H]e has taken an active part in the missionary work, doing much good among his fellow men. He has also been very kind to the elders, and his doors were always open to them. He was greatly beloved and respected by all who knew him. His life was a noble example of faithful and untiring devotion to the Gospel."^[3][4] Bush was believed to be buried on the island of Kauai, but according Anita Manning, an Associate in Cultural Studies at Bishop Museum, "even the family can't find him."^[19]

Memorial

In August 26, 2010, on the anniversary of the signing of the Hawaiian Neutrality Proclamation and over a century after Bush's death, a bronze memorial plaque was erected at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu recognizing the Hawaiʻi Sons of the Civil War, the more than 100 documented Hawaiians who served during the American Civil War on both the Union and the Confederacy.^[20] Bush's great grandniece Edna Bush Ellis, who was influential in the recognition, attended the ceremony.^{[21][22][23][24][11]}

References