Jackson's Boyhood Friend

The image on this post is of Union General Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn's ceremonial sword scabbard. The inscription reads: "Brig. Gen. J. A. J. Lighburn from the Citizens of Lewis County West Va As a Testimony of their appreciation of his Gallant Services in the suppression of the Rebellion of 1861, Weston Va July 4, 1865."

Joseph Lightburn was a childhood friend of young Tom Jackson. As boys, the two shared their interests in books, history, and Christianity along the banks of the West Fork River at Jackson's Mill in Lewis County, Virginia (today West Virginia). According to several historians, and the Lightburn family's oral history, it was Lightburn who was one of the major influences impacting Jackson's Christian faith. Lightburn would return to Weston, West Virginia after the war and pastor Broad Run Baptist Church, where I, along with my family, had the privilege of worshipping last Sunday. Also present in the services were several members of the Raddy Jackson family whose oral history claims they are descended from one of Jackson's slaves.

It was also Joe Lightburn who once told Jackson: "They [slaves] should be free and taught to read so they could read the Bible." Jackson would concur and later do exactly that in his now famous "Colored Sabbath-school."