Background
JACKSON, William Lowther was born on February 3, 1825 in Clarksburg, Virginia, United States, United States. Son of Colonel William Lowther Jackson and his wife Harriet (Wilson) and a second cousin of the future General Thomas J. Jackson.
Career
He read and studied law and was admitted to the Clarksburg bar in 1847. Jackson was a Presbyterian. He married Sarah Creel on August 12,1854, and they had one son.
Before the war, he represented Clarksburg in the Virginia House of Delegates and was also commonwealth’s attorney. He was second auditor and superintendent for the state library fund and lieutenant governor of Virginia in the 1850s. A secessionist, he enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private and became colonel of the 31st Virginia Infantry.
He served on the staff of his cousin “Stonewall” in 1862, participating in the battles of Port Republic, Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas, Harper’s Ferry, and Sharpsburg. In April 1863, as colonel of the 19th Virginia Cavalry, he was assigned to the Department of Western Virginia, and in the summer of 1864, he served in the defense of Lynchburg and in Early’s Valley campaign. He was promoted to brigadier general on December 19, 1864.
He fled to Mexico when the war ended, and in 1866, he went to Louisville, Kentucky, to practice law. From 1872 to 1890, he was continuously elected judge of the circuit court for Jefferson County, Kentucky.
Religion
"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.
Politics
Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.