Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn was an American soldier and Baptist clergyman.
Background
Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn, the son of Benjamin and Rebecca (Fell) Lightburn, came of backwoods stock, his Scotch grandfather having migrated in 1774 to the transmontane region on the Youghiogheny River near West Newton, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Here Joseph was born and spent his earlier years. In 1840 he removed to western Virginia with his father, who in 1841 acquired 600 acres of land on Broad Run in Lewis County. He helped his father build an overshot grist mill on the West Fork of the Monongahela River near the boyhood home of Thomas Jackson, later famous as "Stonewall".
Education
He obtained the rudiments of education at Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County. In 1842, Joseph Lightburn competed unsuccessfully for a cadetship at West Point. Near his home he gained such further education as was provided by the schools of the period, and attended the local Broad Run Baptist Church.
Career
In 1846, during the Mexican War, Lightburn enlisted in the regular army and was assigned to the recruiting service. He remained in the army as a non-commissioned officer till 1851, then returned to milling and farming. In 1861, Lightburn, a stanch Union man, was selected as delegate to the Wheeling conventions of May 13 and June 11 which established the "Reorganized Government of Virginia"--a step toward the formation of the separate state of West Virginia. On August 14, 1861, he received from Gov. Francis H. Pierpont a commission as colonel of the 4th Regiment of Virginia (West Virginia) Volunteers (Union forces) and participated in the battles of Charleston and Gauley Bridge. Placed in general command of the forces in the Kanawha Valley on August 17, 1862, following the transfer of General Cox to Washington, he conducted a successful retreat down the Kanawha to Point Pleasant before the superior force of General Loring.
Early in 1863 he was ordered to the Mississippi near Vicksburg, and attached to the Army of the Tennessee under General Grant. In March he was promoted to be brigadier-general and in May assumed command of a brigade in F. P. Blair's division, XV Army Corps. His command led the first assault on Vicksburg and subsequently participated in engagements at Jackson, Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge, and in Sherman's advance on Atlanta. After recovering from a gunshot wound in the head, which he received in August 1864, he was transferred to the Shenandoah Valley, where he participated in several engagements. He was a warm friend of Gen. Lew Wallace.
In 1867 he represented Lewis County in the legislature of West Virginia. Before the war he had served irregularly as a Baptist minister, and in 1868 was ordained by the Broad Run Baptist Association. He became a leader of his denomination in the state and continued in active service until his death.
Achievements
Personality
Lightburn was a man of fine physique and striking military bearing, and as a preacher was strong and effective.
Connections
In October 1855 he married his stepsister, Harriet Ellen Whittlesey. Her father, Stephen Whittlesey, a graduate of Williams College, had been a Baptist minister. Her widowed mother, Nancy Anne Whittlesey, had become the second wife of Benjamin Lightburn in 1852. To Joseph and Harriet Lightburn were born five children.