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Brigadier General John D. Imboden was born in Staunton, Virginia.
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John D. Imboden attended Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, but didnt't graduate, and which is now called Washington and Lee University.
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After going to school, Imboden taught at the Virginia Institute for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind.
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Imboden was a commissioned to be the captain of the Staunton artillery after having no military training.
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Imboden's first militarry operation occured right after Virginia seceded. Imboden and the Staunton Artillery had to capture the Harper's Ferry armory and arsenal.
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Imboden moved to command the battery at the battle of First Manassas where he was wounded by a shell fragment.
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In the Spring of 1862, Imboden held a bridge at Mount Crawford during the Valley Campaign.
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Imboden left the artillery and recruited a battalion of partisan rangers and was promoted to a colonel of the 62nd Virginia Mounted Infantry.
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Imboden faught and helped win the major battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic with Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, which ended the Valley Campaign.
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After the Valley Campaign, Imboden was promoted to brigadier general.
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John Imboden and William E. Jones led a month-long raid through West Virginia along with 3,400 men to wreck the B & O (Batlimore and Ohio) Railroad to sieze horses and cattle that the Confederacy needed.
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On the retreat back from getting all the supplies, Imboden was trapped on the flooding Potomac River. He put together a defense by gathering some of his brigade, artillery, and the waggoners. They defeated the forces of John Buford and Judson Kilpatrick. They saved there wagon train, and Imboden was admired because he was unaccustomed commanding troops in a stand-up fight.
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Imboden was ordered to raid and attack the vulnerable Union garrison led by Benjamin L. Simpson in the Shenadoah valley in Charlestown. Simpson surrendered after refusing to twice and Imboden won the battle.
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At the Battle of Piedmont Imboden commanded the the right flank of William E. Jones. Jones was killed and the Confederates lost the battle.
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In the fall of 1864, Imboden was incapacitated from typhoid fever. He then spent the rest of the war as a prison guard in Aiken, South Carolina.
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After Jones died, Imboden served under Lt. Gen. Jubal Early.
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Robert E. Lee surrendered at the Battle of the Appomattox Court House which ended the Civil War.
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At the end of the war, Imboden settled in Richmond, Virginia and resumed his law practice.
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Imboden moved to and founded the town of Damascus in Virginia where he mined coal and iron.
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John D. Imboden got sick and died.