fields near Oiltown, setting fire to more than
150,000 barrels of oil. By the time the Imbo-
den Raid concluded on May 14, 1863, the Con-
federates were enriched by the capture of
5,000 cattle and 1,200 horses. Moreover, they
had also burned 24 bridges, captured 1,000
small arms, and inflicted 800 Union casualties
at little cost to themselves. It was one of the
great cavalry raids of the war.
Returning to Virginia, Imboden once again
campaigned under General Lee by screening
the Army of Northern Virginia’s left flank as it
advanced into Pennsylvania. He arrived at
Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, just as the Confed-
erates were withdrawing, and assumed com-
mand of the rear guard. His greatest military
action occurred on July 6, 1863, once Lee’s
army was trapped up against the flooded Po-
tomac River. While in the act of conveying
hundreds of wagons and thousands of
wounded soldiers back to Virginia, his col-
umn was set upon by Union cavalry leaders
John Buford and Judson Kilpatrick at
Williamsport, Maryland. “Our situation was
frightful,” he later wrote. “We had probably
ten thousand animals and nearly all of the
wagons of Gen. Lee’s army under our charge,
and all the wounded, to the number of several
thousand, that could be brought from Gettys-
burg.” Badly outnumbered, Imboden scraped
together men from his brigade, the teamsters,
and all the walking wounded who could carry
a gun. He then deployed his meager forces
well in the face of a determined attack, beat
off marauding Union soldiers, and spared Lee
the crippling loss of all his baggage and
wounded. Once the cavalry brigades under
Fitz-Hugh Lee and Wade Hampton made their
appearance, the veteran Union leaders finally
gave up and retired. “A bold charge at any
time before sunset would have broken our
feeble lines,” Imboden declared, “and then we
should have all fallen an easy prey to the Fed-
erals.” It was a impressive display of leader-
ship from an officer untrained in conventional
battle tactics.
In October 1863, Imboden advanced into
the mountains of West Virginia again, captur-
ing the entire Ninth Maryland Infantry—500
strong—at Charles Town. This act won him a
written commendation from Lee. The follow-
ing spring he joined forces with Gen. John
Cabell Breckinridge in defense of the
Shenandoah Valley. In May his 1,500 troopers
were closely engaged at the Battle of New
Market against Gen. Franz Siegel and con-
tributed to the Confederate victory there. On
May 11, he surprised and captured another
Union force of 454 cavalry at Port Republic.
The following month Gen. Jubal A. Early ar-
rived and commenced his famous advance
upon Washington. Imboden provided useful
service during the Confederate advance up
the Shenandoah Valley and its subsequent re-
treat at the hands of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan.
Before the year was out he contracted ty-
phoid fever, which restricted his remaining
wartime activities. Imboden ended the war
commanding the Confederate prison at Aiken,
South Carolina.
After the war, Imboden resumed his legal
practice in Washington County, Virginia. He
was also active in Confederate veterans’ af-
fairs, and he published a number of essays on
his wartime experiences. In his spare time he
proved a vocal proponent of developing the
coal and iron resources of his native state. This
intrepid partisan leader died in Damascus, Vir-
ginia, on August 15, 1895, one of the outstand-
ing personalities of the Shenandoah region.See also
Jackson, Thomas J. “Stonewall”; Lee, Robert E.Bibliography
Boehm, Robert R. “Mountains and Mud Were the Chief
Obstacles of the Jones-Imboden Raid in West Vir-
ginia.”Civil War Times3, no. 7 (1964): 14–21; Gal-
lagher, Gary W., ed. The Third Day at Gettysburg
and Beyond.Chapel Hill: University of North Car-
olina Press, 1994; Hager, William D. “The Civilian
Life and Accomplishments of John Daniel Imboden.”
Unpublished master’s thesis, James Madison Univer-
sity, 1988; Patterson, Richard. “Schemes and Treach-
ery.” Civil War Times Illustrated28, no. 2 (1989):IMBODEN, JOHNDANIEL