b:5-18-1842 New Albany, Floyd Co., Indiana d:11-1-1905 Kansas City, Missouri, buried at Newton, kansas. He enlisted in the Federal Army in July,1861, as a second lieutenant of Company B, Forty-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry and fought with that regiment until he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of a negro regiment, the Eleventh U. S. infantry, with which he fought until the massacre at Fort Pillow, when he was so severely wounded that he was incapacitated for service. The following is an account of his wounds he received in the battle. He was shot bayoneted, smashed in the side of the head by the butt of a musket and kicked into the river to drown. In that particular bunch of men which was surrounded in this fight he and one of the negro privates were all that were left alive. Col. Jackson was found 48 hours after he had been kicked into the river, by a federal gun boat lying in the stream, his arms clinched around a log and in dying condition. He was brought back to life and went to a hospital for a long time. Here a silver or metal plate was placed in the side of his head where the rebel musket had made a hole. This metal plate, or others that were substituted, was worn up to the time of his death. He was also nearly killed as a man could be to live, but he survived to again enter the war and be captured in a later fight. This time he was thrown in a prison at Memphis. After a time he managed to escape to be again captured by blood hounds and returned. The hot-headed southerners had then never learned that he had been in command of a negro regiment or he would never have lived over night. He finally managed to escape the second time by jumping into a cess-pool through which he managed with an Irish man from a West Virginia regiment, to reach the Mississippi river. They finally got across and after days of wandering, reached an old darky's home. Here food, shelter and new clothing was given them. Rebels hunting them one day came to this cabin. Jackson and his friend were put under the big heavy feather bed and the old nigger mammy, who was large and fat, laid down on it, rolling and tumbling as though in terrible pain. A search of the house failed to find their hiding place, but the old mammy laid there for a long time, it seemed to the men imprisoned below. Some time after this they managed to reach the federal lines and got back with the stars and stripes once more. The effects of these wounds remained with him to to his dying day, the bayonet wound in the foot frequently being very painful. Colonel Jackson's escape from death at Fort Pillow was almost miraculous, as he was one of the very few that got away with their lives. No quarter was shown by the confederate troops to white officers of colored troops. Returning to New Albany after the war, Colonel Jackson was married to Miss Louise Moore, who died November 28th of last year.

Enlisted as a Private on 3 March 1862.
Died in camp on 28 October 1862 near Sharpsburg, MD.

Captured at Cold Harbor
Imprisoned at Libby, Andersonville, Savannah, Millen, Florence and Salisbury prisons
Returned home to Maine after war