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Start Over You searched for: Level Collection ✖ Remove constraint Level: Collection Names Bush, Elliot N. (d. 1864)--Death and burial. ✖ Remove constraint Names: Bush, Elliot N. (d. 1864)--Death and burial. Names United States. Army--Officers. ✖ Remove constraint Names: United States. Army--Officers. Places United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865. ✖ Remove constraint Places: United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865. Places Vicksburg (Miss.)--History--Siege, 1863. ✖ Remove constraint Places: Vicksburg (Miss.)--History--Siege, 1863. Date range 1863 ✖ Remove constraint Date range: <span class="single" data-blrl-single="1863">1863</span>Search Results
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The six Bush letters in the collection represent a small part of their correspondence to relatives at home, relating to the operations of the 95th Illinois in Mississippi and Tennessee. Both brothers are exceptionally well written and reflective, and there must originally have been a far greater number of letters. Each of Elliot Bush's four letters, in particular, is a gem, from his first, in which he writes about tough conditions on the march in Mississippi, about parrying with Van Dorn's cavalry near Holly Springs, and the desire of soldiers in his company for destroying and pillaging rebel property and his duty, as an officer, to prevent them; to his last, in which he describes the effect of Union occupation on the women and men of Natchez, Miss.
Perhaps the best letter in this small collection is the one in which Elliot describes the fortifications at Vicksburg, the thoughts that run through his mind during battle, conditions inside the town, and an armistice during which Confederate and Union soldiers mingled, sharing canteens and locating relatives and neighbours in the opposing army.