Last updated: December 14, 2025
Person
Aitchison, Robert
NPS
Quick Facts
Significance:
Private - 40th Indiana Infantry, Company B
Place of Birth:
Glasgow, Scotland
Date of Birth:
1828 or 1829
Place of Death:
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Date of Death:
December 21, 1862
Place of Burial:
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Cemetery Name:
Stones River National Cemetery
Robert Aitchison was born in Glasgow, Scotland in either 1828 or 1829 and later moved to the United States, arriving in New York on July 18th, 1849. He was naturalized as a United States citizen on October 24th, 1852 at the age of 23 in Miami County, Indiana. Aitchison married a woman named Sarah and together they had a son, Clarence R. Aitchison.
Aitchison worked as a weaver before enrolling for the Union Army on September 11th, 1861. On November 1, 1861, he was mustered as a private at the age of 33. Volunteers were to serve 3 years in the war, but Aitchison died before he could complete them. He served in Company B of the 40th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers. In December of 1862, he was stationed at a camp near Nashville, where he wrote what was likely his last letter to his wife, ending it with:
“Sarah how I would like to be at home now, but there is no sense of thinking about it. The prospect of getting home looks to me, as far off as it was when I first enlisted. I will conclude this by sending respects to all inquiring friends.”
Robert's last words in a postrcript were of his son. “Tell Clarence that he must learn to read and write, so as he can write to Pa.”
Aitchison fought in the Battle of Stones River. A cannonball struck and killed him on December 31, 1862. He rests at Stones River National Cemetery in plot G-2649.