John Daniel Imboden was an American lawyer, Confederate soldier and promoter of mining interests. During the American Civil War, he commanded an irregular cavalry force. Besides. he founded and developed the city of Damascus in Virginia.
Background
Imboden was born on February 16, 1823 on the Christian farm in Augusta County, Virginia, near Staunton, United States, to George William Imboden (1793-1875) and Isabella Wunderlich, who had eleven children. His father participated in the War of 1812.
Education
Imboden attended country school until his sixteenth year and then went to old Washington College for two terms, 1841-42.
Career
Imboden taught school, studied and practised law in Staunton, represented his district twice in the state legislature, and was a defeated candidate for a seat in the convention which passed the ordinance of secession. He organized the Staunton Artillery, and later commanded it at the capture of Harper's Ferry by the Confederate forces. He took an important part in the battle of Manassas, July 21, 1861, supporting Bee's brigade. In 1862, as a colonel under "Stonewall" Jackson, he organized the 1th Partisan Rangers, and participated in the battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic.
Promoted brigadier-general (1863), he conducted the "Imboden Raid, " April-May 1863, in northwest Virginia and West Virginia, cutting the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and supplying Lee's army with thousands of cattle and horses in preparation for the contemplated Gettysburg campaign.
During Lee's advance northward, Imboden protected the Confederate left flank, destroying enemy communications. When he reached the field of Gettysburg at noon, July 3, 1863, Lee assigned him the highly important duty of covering the Confederate retreat. In this undertaking, Imboden engaged in a spirited fight at Williamsport, holding out against greatly superior numbers, and saving the trains and wounded of the Confederate army.
During the Bristoe campaign, he captured the Federal garrison at Charleston, West Virginia, for which exploit he received written commendation from General Lee. Later, he took part in the battles of Piedmont and New Market, and in the series of engagements which marked Early's campaign against Sheridan. Falling ill of typhoid fever in the autumn of 1864, he was detailed on prison duty at Aiken, South Carolina.
After the war, he engaged in law practice in Richmond for a time, but for the last twenty years of his life made his home in Washington County, Virginia. In 1872, he published The Coal and Iron Resources of Virginia, and he was a commissioner to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, and the Columbian Exposition of 1893.
His death came suddenly of intestinal complications at Damascus, Virginia.
Achievements
Connections
Imboden was married first, to Eliza McCue; second, to Mary Wilson McPhail; third, to Edna Porter; and fourth, to Anna Lockett. His fifth wife, Mrs. Florence Crockett of Chattanooga, and five children survived him.