Memorial to veterans of the War of 1812 at Evergreen Washelli Memorial Garden

 

Photo by Steven H. Robinson

This monument in Evergreen Washelli memorializes the veterans of the War of 1812 - said to be our actual war of independence - who died in Washington Territory.

One of the names is a prominent one in Washington history. George Bush 1789/90  - 1863 who died in Thurston County. 

HistoryLink.org has an article on him:

George Bush (ca. 1790-1863) was a key leader of the first group of American citizens to settle north of the Columbia River in what is now Washington. 

Bush was a successful farmer in Missouri, but as a free African American in a slave state, he faced increasing discrimination and decided to move west. 

In 1844, Bush and his good friend Michael T. Simmons (1814-1867), a white Irish American, led their families and three others over the Oregon Trail. 

When they found that racial exclusion laws had preceded them and barred Bush from settling south of the Columbia River, they settled on Puget Sound, becoming the first Americans to do so. 

Bush established a successful farm near present day Olympia on land that became known as Bush Prairie. He and his family were noted for their generosity to new arrivals and for their friendship with the Nisqually Indians who lived nearby. 

Bush continued modernizing and improving his farm until his death in 1863. Said by some sources to be named George Washington Bush in honor of the first president, he has no known family connection to the two later presidents who share with him the name George Bush.

More of the article is here - a fascinating historical account!

By Kit Oldham 

Posted 1/31/2004 

HistoryLink.org Essay 5645