Robert
Foster was born in 1834. After a brief schooling Foster worked in
the tin industry and in his uncle's store in Indianapolis. On the
outbreak of the American Civil War Foster
joined the Union Army.
Foster fought under Lewis Wallace and
promoted to the rank of major in June, 1861. He led the X Corps in
the Department of Virginia and took part in the siege of Petersburg
in June, 1864.
When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated,
President Andrew Johnson ordered the
formation of a nine-man military commission
to try the conspirators. The commission included Foster, David
Hunter, Lewis Wallace, August
Kautz, Thomas Harris and Albion
Howe.
On 29th June, 1865 Mary Surratt,
Lewis Powell, George
Atzerodt, David Herold, Samuel
Mudd, Michael O'Laughlin, Edman
Spangler and Samuel Arnold were
found guilty of being involved in the conspiracy to murder Lincoln.
Surratt, Powell, Atzerodt and Herold were hanged at Washington Penitentiary
on 7th July, 1865. Surratt, who was expected to be reprieved, was
the first woman in American history to be executed.
Foster left the Union Army in September,
1865. He returned to Indianapolis where he held several public offices
before his death in 1903.
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