Robert S. Robertson

Robert Stoddart Robertson (April 16, 1839 – August 24, 1906) was a United States Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the American Civil War, while serving with Company K, 93rd New York Volunteer Infantry. He later served as Lieutenant Governor of Indiana.

Early life Robert Stoddart Robertson was born on April 16, 1839, in North Argyle, New York, to Nicholas and Martha Robertson, who were also the parents of two daughters — Margaret and Anne. The couple belonged to the Presbyterian colony planted in that region of New York about 1764 by Captain Duncan Cameron, under the patronage of George Douglas Campbell, Duke of Argyle. Robert received his elementary education in the Argyle common schools, where his teachers marked him as more studious than most boys. Later he attended Argyle Academy, becoming an omnivorous reader of the best literature that lay within his reach. Though he enjoyed the usual sports and recreations of village boys, his father taught him cabinetmaking, which he found useful in later life. Until 1859 he worked during vacations in his father's sawmill and gristmill. Robert liked to observe his father when he presided as justice of the peace. He early chose the law as his life profession and became a student in the office of James Gibson in Salem, New York, in 1859. In November, 1860, he was admitted to the New York bar. Subsequently, he went to Whitehall, New York, to begin active practice. While practicing law there before the war, Robert met Elizabeth Harrington Miller, eldest daughter of John A. and Catherine Miller of Fort Edward. The Civil War caused them to postpone their marriage plans until after the war ended. On July 19, 1865, they were married in Whitehall.

He is buried in the Lindenwood Cemetery in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Medal of Honor citation "The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to First Lieutenant Robert Stoddart Robertson, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 8 May 1864, while serving with Company K, 93d New York Infantry, in action at Corbins Bridge, Virginia. While acting as aide-de-camp to a general officer, seeing a regiment break to the rear, First Lieutenant Robertson seized its colors, rode with them to the front in the face of the advancing enemy, and rallied the retreating regiment."