Biography

 Union commander stationed mostly in the South until shot across the skull. Lightburn was assigned commanded of the Martinsburgh troops following his recuperation from November 13 - December 7, 1864.     
"Civil War Union Brigadier General. Born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, he represented Lewis County, Virginia in the convention that reorganized the state government in 1861. With the start of the Civil War, he organized the 4th Virginia Regiment for the Union Army and was made its Colonel in August, 1861. In 1862, he commanded the District of the Kanawha, conducted the retreat from Kanawha valley in September of that year and was promoted Brigadier General in March, 1863. He took part in the siege and capture of Vicksburg, the Battle of Missionary Ridge and was with General Sherman in the Atlanta Campaign, where he was wounded in August, 1864. After his recovery he led a brigade in Shenandoah Valley and was then president of an examining military board when he resigned his commission in June, 1865. After the war, he was elected a member of the West Virginia State Legislature in 1866."