To The Letter S2 E7: Bushwhacking

To The Letter

This episode explains “Bushwhackers” and “Jayhawks”. Bushwhackers was the term given to pro-Confederate secessionist guerillas of Missouri, in particular, but was also applied to other guerilla fighters in Kentucky, Tennessee, northern Virginia, and even California. Jayhawks, in contrast, were pro-Union guerilla fighters.

Several famous outlaws in the West got their start as bushwhackers, including Frank and Jesse James.

To the Letter is a podcast brought to you in collaboration with University Libraries and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies Department’s Digital Studio at GVSU. On this podcast, we bring correspondence from GVSU’s Special Collections alive. In each episode you will hear (in their own words!) letters written by the people who lived through history and the stories behind them. John Bennitt is voiced by Matt Ruen, Scholarly Communications Outreach Coordinator at University Libraries.

Letters featured in the episode are available below:

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Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, July 21, 1863

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Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, Oct. 27, 1863

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Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, March 3, 1864

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Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, March 10, 1864

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Additional research for this episode:

• 6 Civil War Guerilla Leaders
• Bushwhackers and Jayhawks
• Bushwhackers

Questions? Comments? Let us know!