Robert Sanford Foster

Robert Sanford Foster was born January 27, 1834, in Vernon, Indiana. He received a common school education, moved to Indianapolis at the age of sixteen, and learned the trade of tinner. At the onset of the Civil War, he enlisted, and was mustered in on April 22, 1861, as captain of the 11th Indiana, a ninety-day regiment that saw limited service in western Virginia. In June of the same year, he was transferred to the 13th Indiana as major and saw action at Romney and Rich Mountain. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel and subsequently to colonel. Foster commanded the regiment in James Shields’ division during the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1862. After being transferred to southeastern Virginia, his regiment faced James Longstreet. He was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers to rank from June 12, 1863. Foster commanded a brigade in the siege of Charleston and a brigade stationed in the harbor at Folly Island. He acted as chief of staff of Gillmore’s X Corps in the Army of the James following a short stint in Florida. He was a participant in the operations against Petersburg and, on April 2, 1865, was involved in the attack on Fort Bragg, along with a division commanded by General John W. Turner. He was brevetted a major general of volunteers for his field services and resigned September 25, 1865. Following the war, Foster served in the trial of the Lincoln conspirators and declined a lieutenant colonelcy in the Regular Army in 1866. Foster settled in Indianapolis and served as city treasurer for five years. From 1881 to 1885, he was U. S. Marshal for Indiana and was president of the city board of trade for many years. Robert Sanford Foster died March 3, 1903, and was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

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