Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 34.djvu/302

 .294 Southern Historical Society Papers.

From the 7^imes-fiispalch, September 2, 1906.

THE IMBODEN RAID AND ITS EFFECTS.

Interesting Review of this Important Military Expedition.

Steady March Unbroken Important Town of Beverley Captured Without a Soldier Being Killed.

What is known in war parlance as the "Imboden Raid" oc- cured in the spring of 1863, beginning the latter part of April and winding up before the month of May had expired.

This was in some respects the most important military ex- pedition that was planned and executed by the Confederate authorities within the scope of the Virginia campaign; still little is known by the Virginia people of the "Imboden Raid."

The Confederate soldiers who were on this expedition were almost entirely Western Virginia men, and, when the authori- ties had determined on the raid, these men were sought, far and near, because of their knowledge of the country, the peo- ple and the army posts kept up by the Federals in Western Vir- ginia. Another thing: Many of these men had been absent from their homes and friends two long years, and the authori- ties knew their great anxiety to return to their homes, for which they still cherished the dearest memories.

The Twenty-fifth and Thirty-first Regiments of Virginia In- fantry were withdrawn from General Lee's army a few days before the battle of Chancellorsville and allowed to accompany this expedition. These two regiments belonged to General Early's old brigade, and this was the first time they had been separated from General Jackson since they had been made a part pf his division.

The man who planned and did more to execute the "Im- boden Raid" than any other one person was William L. Jack- son, who became a brigadier of the Confederate Army before the close of the Civil War. After the "Phillipi Retreat" Wil- liam L. Jackson was made colonel of the Thirty-first Virginia