25 Jan. 1842 - 15 May 1926
Robert Wesley McBride was born in Richland County, Ohio. Though he spent about twenty years in Iowa, he returned to Ohio when the Civil War broke out. McBride enlisted in the 7th Ohio Independent Squadron of Cavalry, more commonly known as the Union Light Guard. This squadron became bodyguard for President Abraham Lincoln, serving as mounted escort of the President until his assassination. In 1866, he moved to Indiana and settled in Waterloo, DeKalb County. He served as judge of the 35th judicial circuit and, in 1890, was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court. Months before his death, he wrote Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, in which he told of his almost daily glimpses of President Lincoln during the last sixteen months of the Civil War. For more information about Robert Wesley McBride, click here. Bibliography
Lincoln's Body Guard, the Union Light Guard of Ohio; with Some Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln. Indianapolis, 1908. [ISL Manuscript Section, L288]
Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1926. [ISL call number: I 923 L736m]