John Lamb (June 12, 1840 – November 21, 1924) was a Virginia farmer, Confederate officer, businessman and politician who served 16 years in the United States House of Representatives.

The Lamb family had owned the "Rural Shades" plantation in Charles City County for 200 years, and by this boy's lifetime, had long used enslaved labor there.

In the 1850 census, Lycurgus Lamb owned 15 enslaved people in Charles City County (ten taxable as more than 10 years old).

[3] A decade later, when John was still under legal age, his mother Anne E. Lamb owned 14 enslaved people in Charles City County.

[4] His mother's family could also trace their descent from colonial-era immigrants, and his maternal great grandfather, Lt. Joseph Christian has served in the American Revolutionary War.

John Lamb was captured on September 29, 1861 near Charleston (in what would become the state of West Virginia) and exchanged for a Union soldier prisoner on October 8, 1862.

[8] After an interim election won by a white Republican, that seat would be held by Lamb's fellow 3rd Virginia Cavalry officer, Benjamin W. Lacy for years.

[10] After leaving Congress, Lamb remained in Richmond as the superintendent of the Virginia Historical Society, with its extensive Confederate memorial murals.