U.S. General Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn
Today a former neighbor of Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is appointed colonel of the 4th (West) Virginia Infantry Regiment of the United States Army. The appointment of Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn (1824-1901) comes as the Union-supportive western portion of the state of Virginia is in the process of establishing itself as a state separate from Virginia.
A native Pennsylvanian, a teenage Lightburn had moved with his family to Lewis County, Virginia in 1840, where he lived near the Jackson family. Serving in the U.S. Army from 1846-1851, Lewis left the Army with the rank of sergeant and returned to Lewis County to operate his family’s mill and farm. In 1859, Lightburn was licensed as a Baptist minister.
Two of Lightburn’s brothers, Martin Van Buren Lightburn and Calvin Luther Lightburn, serve in the 4th West Virginia alongside their elder sibling. The regiment shortly after Lightburn’s appointment serves under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan during the West Virginia Campaign. In 1862, Col. Lightburn commands the 4th Brigade in the District of Kanawha. The following year, Lightburn is appointed brigadier general of the Army of Tennessee, and is in command of the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, XV Corps during the siege of Vicksburg. Returning eastward after Vicksburg, Lightburn fights under Sherman at the Battle of Missionary Ridge and then leads his brigade in the Atlanta Campaign. Wounded following the siege of Atlanta, Lightburn is sent home to recover. Although returning briefly in uniform to command a West Virginia brigade, the action is largely over and Lightburn resigns from the army on June 22, 1865.
Following the war, Lightburn resumes his ministerial career, assuming the pulpit of Broad Run Baptist Church in Broad Run, Virginia. The same year, he is elected a member of the West Virginia legislature.
Following years of ministry and political service, Lightburn dies in 1901 and is buried in the Broad Run Baptist Church cemetery. In 1915, a monument to the general is erected at Vicksburg National Battlefield Park.
Sources: “Joseph A. J. Lightburn,” West Virginia Encyclopedia (link); “Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn” (link); “Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn” (link)
