James Wood Bush
| James Wood Bush | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1844 Honolulu, Oʻahu, Kingdom of Hawaiʻi |
| Died | April 24, 1906 Kealia, Kauaʻi, Territory of Hawaii |
| Allegiance |
United States of America Union |
| Service/branch | Union Navy |
| Years of service | 1864–65 |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
| Relations | John E. Bush (brother) |
James Wood Bush (c. 1844 – April 24, 1906) was an American Union Navy sailor of British and Native Hawaiian descent. One of the "Hawaiʻi Sons of the Civil War", he was among a group of more than one hundred documented Native Hawaiian and Hawaii-born combatants who fought in the American Civil War while the Kingdom of Hawaii was still an independent nation.
Enlisting in the Union Navy in 1864, he served as sailor aboard the USS Vandalia and the captured Confederate vessel USS Beauregard, maintaining the blockade of the ports of the Confederacy. He was discharged from service in 1865 after receiving an injury, which developed into a chronic condition in later life. Unable to immediately return home, the impoverished Bush took more than a decade to return to Hawaii, journeying through New England and much of the Pacific. Back in Hawaii, he worked as a government tax collector and road supervisor for the island of Kauai, where he settled down. In later life he converted to Mormonism and became an active member of the Hawaiian Mission. After the annexation of Hawaii to the United States, Bush was recognized for his service and granted a government pension in 1905 for the injuries he received in the Navy. He died at his home on Kauai, on April 24, 1906.
For a period of time after the end of the war, the legacy and contributions of Bush and other documented Hawaiian participants in the American Civil War were largely forgotten except in the private circles of descendants and historians. However, there has been a revival of interest in recent years, especially through the work and efforts of his great grandniece Edna Bush Ellis and others in the Hawaiian community. In 2010, the "Hawaiʻi Sons of the Civil War" were commemorated with a bronze plaque erected along the memorial pathway at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
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