Letter from William Sharp Bush to Jabez Caldwell, March 5, 1811
Twenty-four-year-old Marine Lieutenant William Sharp Bush, stationed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, wrote this letter to his friend Major Jabez Caldwell on March 5, 1811, the day after Bush was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. Bush was assigned to the land-based recruiting services during this period and writes of his leisure time and social activities.
Bush went on to command USS Constitution‘s Marine Guard in the opening months of the War of 1812. He was killed during Constitution‘s engagement with the British frigate HMS Guerriere on August 19, 1812, becoming the first United States Marine Corps officer to die in combat.
Creator
William Sharp Bush
Date Created
March 5, 1811
Medium
Paper, Ink
Dimensions
[H]10 in. [W]8 in.
Catalog Number
2270.2
Credit Line
USS Constitution Museum Collection. Annette Doolittle Gift.
Terms of Use
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
