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Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn, Civil War General, Articles and Letters Regarding Joseph Lightburn, A&M 3670, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Scope and Contents

Includes articles and letters regarding the biography of Union officer Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn assembled by members of the Lightburn family in response to an article written by Forrest Hill of the "Charleston Daily Mail" (reprinted in the 17 February 1994 edition of "The West Virginia Hillbilly"). The article, entitled "The Sad Saga of Lightburn's Retreat From Kanawha Valley", was a critique of Lightburn's leadership during a retreat from the Kanawha Valley during the Civil War. A 1994 letter from the Lightburn family to the Director of West Virginia Archives and History, among others, refutes the allegations set forth in Hill's article. There are other articles about Lightburn by Roy Bird Cook (1933, 1953) and Charles H. Washburn (1951). The Cook article of 1953, which appeared in the journal "West Virginia History", includes a transcribed 1862 letter from Lightburn to Governor Pierpont describing his retreat from the Kanawha Valley. There is also a seven page photocopied transcript of an 1865 Wheeling Intelligencer piece describing in detail same year's Independence Day celebration in Weston, West Virginia. Parade participants included Brigadier General J. Lightburn, detachments of the 10th and 15th West Virginia Infantry, and others. An estimated crowd of 2000 to 2500 people were present for the day's activities, culminating in a Cotillion party at the Moxley House and a Military Ball at the Bailey House.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Civil War -- Kanawha Valley, W. Va.
• Kanawha Valley.
• Lightburn, Joseph A. J.