Jones–Imboden Raid

The Jones-Imboden Raid
	Part of the American Civil War
Date	April – May, 1863
Location	Western Virginia (present day West Virginia) ; western Maryland
Result	Confederate victory
Belligerents
United States of America	Confederate States of America
Commanders and leaders
Robert C. Schenck; Benjamin S. Roberts	William E. Jones ; John D. Imboden
Strength
45,000 (Total Middle Military Department)	7,000
Casualties and losses
Livestock driven off; 1,000 head of cattle; 1,200 horses; Resources destroyed; 16 rail bridges; 150,000 barrels of oil; Human casualties; 700 prisoners; 30 killed	unknown

The Jones–Imboden Raid was a Confederate military action conducted in western Virginia (now the state of West Virginia) in April and May 1863 during the American Civil War. The raid, led by Brig. Gens. William E. Jones and John D. Imboden, was aimed at disrupting traffic on the vital Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and reasserting Confederate authority in transmountain Virginia in an effort to derail the growing statehood movement in the region, since voters had in March approved a new Constitution and statehood only awaited Congressional and Presidential approval, which took place before the raid began. President Lincoln issued the statehood proclamation on April 20, 1863.

Raiders claimed success from a military vantage, since they severely damaged several railroad bridges (though not the two most critical), as well as an oil field and other critical Union resources. Raiders also captured valuable supplies and gained recruits. From a political standpoint, however, the raid failed, for it had little effect on pro-statehood sentiment, and West Virginia was admitted as the 35th state of the Union in June.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.