James Wood Bush

He was among a group of more than one hundred Native Hawaiian and Hawaii-born combatants in the American Civil War, at a time when the Kingdom of Hawaii was still an independent nation.

After the annexation of Hawaii to the United States, Bush was recognized for his military service, and in 1905 was granted a government pension for the injuries he received in the Navy.

For a long period after the Civil War, the legacy and contributions of Bush and other documented Hawaiian participants were largely forgotten except in the private circles of descendants and historians.

[8] His older brother was John Edward Bush, who became a newspaper publisher and politician, serving as royal governor of Kauaʻi and a cabinet minister under the reign of King Kalākaua.

[14] Many Hawaiians sympathized with the Union because of Hawaiʻi's ties to New England through its missionaries and the whaling industries, and the ideological opposition of many to the institution of slavery.

He developed chronic laryngitis and spinal injuries due to his service in the Union Navy and was discharged in September 1865 at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital.

[21] In 1882, his older brother, in his capacity as Minister of the Interior, appointed Bush the Road Supervisor for the District of Hanalei to replace Christian Bertlemann, who had resigned.

[23][24] In around 1894, Bush married a young Hawaiian girl named Sarah Kaloaaole Makahi (1879–1963) at Lahaina, traveling to Kona after their marriage.

He was survived by his wife Sarah and son James Jr.[4][5] Lorenzo Taylor, writing for the Deseret News shortly after Bush's death, said, "[H]e has taken an active part in the missionary work, doing much good among his fellow men.

Renewed interest in the stories of these individuals and this particular period of Hawaiian-American history has inspired efforts to preserve the memories of the Hawaiians who served in the war.

The exact number still remains unclear because many Hawaiians enlisted and served under Anglicized names, and little is known about them due to the lack of detailed records.