John D. Imboden
Imboden c. 1860s
Member of theVirginia House of Delegates from theAugusta County district
In office December 3, 1855 – December 6, 1857 Serving with Bolivar Christian,Adam McChesney
Preceded by	Absalom Koiner
Succeeded by	J. Marshall McCue
Member of theVirginia House of Delegates from theAugusta County district
In office December 2, 1850 – December 4, 1853 Serving with John McCue, James Walker,John A. Tate
Preceded by	Hugh W. Sheffey
Succeeded by	James H. Skinner
Personal details
Born	(1823-02-16)February 16, 1823 Staunton, Virginia, US
Died	August 15, 1895(1895-08-15) (aged 72) Damascus, Virginia, US
Resting place	Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia)
Military service
Allegiance	Confederate States of America
Branch/service	Confederate States Army
Years of service	1861–1865
Rank	Brigadier General
Battles/wars	American Civil War First Battle of Manassas Gettysburg campaign Valley Campaigns of 1864

John Daniel Imboden (/ɪmˈboʊdɛn/; February 16, 1823 – August 15, 1895) was an American lawyer,Virginia state legislator, andConfederate armygeneral. During theAmerican Civil War, he commanded anirregular cavalry force. After the war, he resumed practicing law, became a writer, and was active in land development founding the town ofDamascus, Virginia.

Imboden was born nearStaunton, Virginia, in theShenandoah Valley to farmer George William Imboden and Isabella Wunderlich who bore eleven children. His father fought in theWar of 1812. Imboden received a private education locally at the Staunton Academy, then in 1841–1842 he attendedWashington College. By 1850, John and his brother Frank no longer lived on the family farm, which his father worked with the help of his younger brothers George, James, Jacob, and a white hired hand named Robert Walkey; his sisters Eliza and Frances helped their mother at the home.^[1]

He took a job teaching at theVirginia School for the Deaf and the Blind in Staunton. Imboden also read law, was admitted to the Virginia bar, and entered into partnership with William Frazier to create a law firm. In December 1844, Imboden became a member of the StauntonMasonic lodge, Number 13, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (A.F. & A.M.)^[2]: 6 In the 1850 Federal census, Imboden owned four slaves, a 16-year-old mulatto male, a 23-year-old black female and 12- and three-year-old girls.^[3] His slaveholdings increased to 7 in 1860, the mulatto male becoming 26 years old, and working alongside two 20-year-old black women, a 24-year-old black woman and black boys aged 6 and 14 as well as a 14-year-old black girl.^[4]

Augusta County voters elected Imboden as one of their two (part-time) delegates in theHouse of Delegates in 1850, alongside veteran John Marshall McCue. As a result of greater representation accorded western Virginia counties and the 1850 census, Augusta county was allocated a third delegate in 1852, so as the third-highest vote-getter that year, Imboden was re-elected, this time serving alongside James Walker and John A. Tate. However, Augusta County voters selected three other men in 1853, although Imboden again was the third highest vote-getter and returned to the legislature in 1855, this time alongside Boliver Christian and Adam McChesney. Imboden again failed to win re-election in 1857.^[5]In response to John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry, Imboden helped found the Staunton Light Artillery, partially funding it as his own expense.^[6] His younger brotherGeorge W. Imboden had followed his path into the law and also joined the artillery militia. Despite his lack of formal military training, J.D. Imboden was commissioned ascaptain in the Staunton Artillery of the Virginia State Militia on November 28, 1859.^[7]

As theVirginia Secession Convention of 1861 appeared ready to pass the ordinance of secession, ex-GovernorHenry Wise called a meeting of several militia commanders, Capt.A.M. Barbour (former civil superintendent of the Harper's Ferry Arsenal) andRichmond Enquirer editor Nat Tyler, to plan to capture the U.S. Army arsenal atHarpers Ferry. Imboden attended, as did Capt.John A. Harman of Staunton's infantry militia, as well as cavalry militia captainsTurner andRichard Ashby of Fauquier County andOliver R. Funsten of Clarke County.^[8] Imboden telegraphed Staunton's militia companies to meet in Staunton at 4p.m. on April 17 for orders. The group arranged railroad transportation toCharles Town about 8 miles from the Harpers Ferry arsenal. However, GovernorJohn Letcher refused to authorized the action until the secession ordinance passed. As soon as it did, A.M. Barbour went to Harpers Ferry and publicly informed the workmen. Then, the evening after the secession ordinance passed, 360 men started out to capture the arsenal, defended by U.S. Army Lt. Roger Jones with 50 soldiers and about 15 volunteers. Vastly outnumbered, they attempted to set fire to the buildings and equipment as they retreated north to Carlisle, Pennsylvania.^[9] Imboden's artillery had set up on the heights above the arsenal, but did not see further action, although Imboden later bragged about converting some of the captured horse carts to caissons. Virginia militia Major GeneralKenton Harper (of Staunton) then secured the towns, and on April 27, MajorStonewall Jackson arrived to organize the militia into regiments.^[10]

On July 1, 1861, the Staunton Light Artillery, with its four bronze, 6-pounder guns and 107 officers and men, was formally mustered in theConfederate States Army.^[11][12] While commanding his artillery battery at theFirst Battle of Bull Run, Imboden perforated his left eardrum firing an artillery piece, causing subsequent deafness in that ear. He fought withMaj. Gen.Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson in theValley Campaign atCross Keys andPort Republic. On September 9, 1862, Imboden left the artillery to recruit a battalion ofpartisan rangers and was promoted tocolonel of the62nd Virginia Mounted Infantry (1st Partisan Rangers). He was promoted tobrigadier general on January 28, 1863.^[13]

Upset by the independence movement in West Virginia, the voters of which petitioned to separate from Virginia, Imboden with Brig. Gen.William E. "Grumble" Jones led 3,400 partisan rangers into northwestern Virginia. TheJones-Imboden Raid destroyed rail track and bridges of theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad, as well as captured thousands of horses and heads of cattle and ruinedpetroleum fields in theKanawha Valley.^[7] The raiders covered 400 miles (640 km) in 37 days but failed to stop West Virginia's statehood.

In theGettysburg campaign, Imboden's brigade served under Maj. Gen.J.E.B. Stuart guarding the left flank for Gen.Robert E. Lee's movement north through the Shenandoah Valley.^[14] (His brigade did not participate in Stuart's foray away from Lee's army, but instead raided theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad betweenMartinsburg, West Virginia, andCumberland, Maryland.^[2]) During theBattle of Gettysburg, Imboden's men stayed in the rear and guarded ammunition and supply trains inChambersburg, Pennsylvania. During the Confederate retreat, Imboden escorted the wagon trains with thousands of wounded soldiers back to Virginia. On July 6, 1863, thePotomac River flooding atWilliamsport, Maryland, trapped Imboden's wagon train. He put together a defensive force that included an artillery battery and as many of the wounded who could operate muskets. This hastily organized force turned back attacks from Union cavalry generalsJohn Buford andJudson Kilpatrick, saving the wagon train. Robert E. Lee praised Imboden for the way in which he "gallantly repulsed" the Union cavalry.^{[citation needed]}

Returning to the Shenandoah Valley, Imboden responded to a request from General Lee to distract the enemy in his front by leading a raid on the vulnerable Union detachment atCharles Town, West Virginia, on October 18, 1863 at theBattle of Charlestown. Imboden reported,

The surprise was complete, the enemy having no suspicion of our approach until I had the town entirely surrounded. ... To my demand for a surrender Colonel Simpson requested an hour for consideration. I offered him five minutes, to which he replied, 'Take us if you can'. I immediately opened on the buildings with artillery at less than 200 yards, and with half a dozen shells drove out the enemy into the streets, when he formed and fled toward Harper's Ferry.^{[citation needed]}

Union Brig. Gen.Jeremiah Cutler Sullivan soon sent a rescue column from nearby Harpers Ferry and drove Imboden back up the valley. Sullivan reported, "The cavalry came up with the enemy this side of Charlestown, and drove them through the town. Artillery coming up, drove them about 4 miles. A portion of infantry force ... , reaching them, the enemy were driven from every position they took, to nearBerryville."

Imboden andJohn C. Breckinridge's forces defeated UnionMaj. Gen.Franz Sigel's command at theBattle of New Market on May 15, 1864. He returned to Virginia and commanded abrigade in Maj. Gen.Robert Ransom's cavalry division of theSecond Corps of theArmy of Northern Virginia underLt. Gen.Jubal A. Early in theValley Campaigns of 1864, including the losses at theBattle of Fisher's Hill and theBattle of Cedar Creek. Incapacitated bytyphoid fever by the autumn of 1864, Imboden left the active cavalry service.^[7]

Beginning on January 2, 1865, Imboden commanded Camp Millen, Georgia, then theprison camp atAiken, South Carolina as well as other prison camps inGeorgia,Alabama, andMississippi throughout 1865 until the end of the war. He was paroled inAugusta, Georgia on May 3 of that year.^[13]

After the war, Imboden moved toRichmond, Virginia, where he resumed his work as a lawyer, serving first in Richmond and then inAbingdon, thecounty seat ofWashington County.^[7] His brother George moved to West Virginia, where he invested in land and coal, becoming a prominent businessman and legislator. John Imboden also advocated development of Virginia's natural resources and transportation infrastructure. In 1872 he publishedThe Coal and Iron Resources of Virginia: Their Extent, Commercial Value, and Early Development Considered.^[15] Around 1875, he moved to southwestern Virginia where he hoped to mine coal and iron ore deposits. He founded the town ofDamascus, Virginia, which became a lumber center in the late 19th and early 20th century.^[16] John D. Imboden also participated in Confederate veterans activities and theLost Cause movement. He published several articles and books about theCivil War, and also contributed toThe War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (128 vols., 1880–1901).^[17]

In 1876, he became a commissioner of theCentennial International Exposition inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, and in 1893, he was a commissioner of theWorld's Columbian Exposition inChicago.^[18]In the winter of 1879-1880, Imboden traveled toPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to meet with potential investors for coal operations inWise County, Virginia. He persuaded the investors to begin operations with the region, leading to the chartering of the Tinsalia Coal Company, and later the Virginia Coal & Iron Company. Imboden then worked as a land agent for the company, securing property and mineral rights.^[19] One of the coal camps in Wise County,Imboden, is named after him.

Imboden died in Damascus in 1895, and is buried in theGenerals section ofHollywood Cemetery inRichmond, Virginia.^[20][21]

During his life, Imboden was married five times; five out of his nine children were alive at the time of his death in 1895.^[18] On June 16, 1845, Imboden married Eliza "Dice" Allen McCue, who was a daughter of Colonel Franklin McCue. The Imbodens built a house in Staunton which they called the "Ingleside Cottage". They had four children, one died before reaching three years. On December 23, 1857, his wife of twelve years died. On May 12, 1859, Imboden married Mary Wilson McPhail, who gave birth to three children.^[22] Later, he married Edna Porter, then Anna Lockett, and finally Florence Crockett.^[18]

• Imboden, John D.Organized and Authorized Partisan Rangers. Staunton, Va., 1862. (Recruiting pamphlet)
• Imboden, John D.Virginia, the Home for the Northern Farmer: Three Letters from Gen. J.d. Imboden, Domestic Agent of Immigration for the State of Virginia, to Hon. Horace Greeley. New York: D. Taylor, 1869.
• Imboden, John D.Lee at Gettysburg. New York, 1871.
• Imboden, John D.Reminiscences of Lee and Jackson. New York, 1871.
• Imboden, John D.The Coal and Iron Resources of Virginia: Their Extent, Commercial Value, and Early Development Considered. a Paper Read Before a Meeting of Members of the Legislature and Prominent Citizens in the Capitol at Richmond, February 19th, 1872. Richmond: Clemmitt & Jones, printers, 1872.
• Imboden, John D.Important to All Interested in Virginia, U.S. London: Foreign and Colonial Estates Exchange Agency, 1873.
• Imboden, John D. Jackson at Harper's Ferry in 1861. InBattles and Leaders of the Civil War, ed. by Robert U. Johnson and Clarence C. Buel (1884–1887).1.1 (1884): 111-125.
• Imboden, John D.Coal and Coke: Coal Interests of South Western Virginia. s.l., 1894.

• Imboden, Virginia
• List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)

• Brown, Kent Masterson.Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics, & the Pennsylvania Campaign. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005.ISBN 0-8078-2921-8.
• Eicher, John H., andDavid J. Eicher,Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001.ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1.
• Sifakis, Stewart.Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988.ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4.
• Tucker, Spencer.Brigadier General John D. Imboden: Confederate Commander in the Shenandoah. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003.ISBN 978-0-8131-2266-3.
• Warner, Ezra J.Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959.ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.
• Wittenberg, Eric J., J. David Petruzzi, and Michael F. Nugent.One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, July 4–14, 1863. New York: Savas Beatie, 2008.ISBN 978-1-932714-43-2.

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• Cumberland, Maryland, in the American Civil War
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