John Daniel Imboden (; February 16, 1823August 15, 1895), American lawyer, Virginia state legislator, and a Confederate army general. During the American Civil War, he commanded an irregular cavalry force. After the war, he resumed practicing law, became a writer, and was active in land development founding the town of Damascus, Virginia. Early and family life Imboden was born near Staunton, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley to farmer George William Imboden (1793–1875) and Isabella Wunderlich who bore eleven children. His father fought in the War of 1812. Imboden received a private education locally at the Staunton Academy, then in 1841–1842 he attended Washington 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. Early career He took a job teaching at the Virginia 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 Staunton Masonic lodge, Number 13, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (A.F. & A.M.) 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. 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. Augusta County voters elected Imboden as one of their two (part-time) delegates in the House 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. In response to John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry, Imboden helped found the Staunton Light Artillery, partially