Brigadier General John D. Imboden: Confederate Commander in the Shenandoah

1. Early Life to the Civil War

Chapter 1 Early Life to the Civil War John Daniel Imboden was born on February 16, 1823, at Christian's Creek near Fishersville, Virginia, a small community not far from the Augusta County seat of Staunton. Augusta County is situated on the westward slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the central Shenandoah Valley, which takes its name from the Shenandoah River. Named for an Indian word meaning "Daughter ofthe Stars," the river is unusual in that it flows north rather than south.! The first white settlers, predominantly ofEnglish stock, crossed the Blue Ridge from the Piedmont area of eastern Virginia and arrived in the Shenandoah Valley in 1716. Early in the nineteenth century another wave of immigrants arrived, largely Scotch-Irish and German in origin and predominantly from the northeastern United States. They established small ethnic farming communities in the Valley. The Germans quickly learned English and assimilated into the mainstream British culture.2 The name Imboden is Germanic in origin and means "of the valley ." John Daniel Imboden's great grandfather, Johannes Imboden (17331819 ), was born in Henau, Switzerland, and arrived in Philadelphia from Rotterdam aboard the ship Two Brothers in 1752. The ship's captain apprenticed him to a rich farmer in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, as payment for the voyage. Johannes Imboden later married Eleanor Diller, his employer's daughter. He fought as a private in the Pennsylvania Militia 1 2 Brigadier GeneralJohn D. Imboden during the Revolutionary War, and he and Eleanor had eleven children: seven sons and four daughters. One of these sons, John Henry Imboden (1765-1838), and his wife, Catherine Williams Fernsler, moved to Augusta County, Virginia, in 1795. In May 1796 they bought from Gilbert and Lucy Christian a 195-acre farm on Christian's Creek, some five miles east of Staunton. The creek was named after the earliest white settlers there, and reportedly the farm was dose to the site of the area's oldest fort erected for settlers' protection against Indian attack. The farm was also situated near the town ofFishersville and the Old Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church.3 John Henry and Catherine Imboden had eleven children, seven of them sons. Their fifth son was George William Imboden (1793-1875). Although his other brothers moved west, George chose to remain in Augusta County, and in May 1822 he married Isabella Wunderlich, the daughter ofdose neighbors, whose forefathers had also come to America on the Two Brothers, although on a different voyage.4 On February 16, 1823, Isabella Imboden gave birth to their first child, John Daniel Imboden (1823-1895). George and Isabella Imboden would have eleven children. John Daniel's siblings were Susan B. (I8241832 ); PollyJane (1826-1832); Benjamin (1828-1847); Henry (18311832 ); Eliza Catherine, known as "Kate" (I 833-1892); George William (1836-1922); David (1838-1851); Francis Marion, "Frank" (18411922 );James Adam, "Jim" (1843-1928); and Jacob Peck, "Jake" (18461899 ). Benjamin probably died oftyphoid fever at Buena Vista during the 1846-1848 Mexican War; Susan B., Polly Jane, and Henry all succumbed to scarlet fever in 1832. In 1827, George Imboden purchased the three hundred-acre farm belonging to his father-in-law, also located on Christian's Creek some five miles east ofStaunton. It remained in the family until 1852, when they sold it to William M. Simms and moved to Lewis County in western Virginia, with three oftheir younger children: Frank, Jim, and Jake. John, Kate, and George William remained in Augusta County. In 1855 George and Isabella Imboden sold an additional six hundred acres that they had acquired in Augusta Springs. Shortly thereafter, they moved again, this time to Braxton County, which adjoins Lewis County to the southwest. They were brought back to Virginia by their sons during the Civil War.5 Early Life to the Civil War 3 The population ofAugusta County was overwhelmingly rural. In 1820 the one thousand-square-mile county had a population of only 16,742, less than a tenth ofwhom lived in Staunton. Life on the farm was financially difficult at times, but the Imboden children seem to have been relatively well off. By all indications the family was dose-knit and happy. Money was probably in short supply-much of the trade was by barter and there was no bank in the county until one was established in Staunton in 1847-but the children were never without food or clothing.6 John Daniel grew into a handsome...