Robert B. Isbell was born in March 1836 in Amherst County, Virginia, to Robert Isbell and Angelina Boaz. His father was a merchant and farmer who owned $5,000 of real estate and $8,460 of personal property by 1860. Isbell grew up and attended school in Appomattox County, Virginia, and he eventually began working as a clerk.

 

He enlisted in the United States army on August 15, 1857. According to his enlistment records, he was 5 feet, 7½ inches tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. He was stationed at Fort Craig in the New Mexico Territory, and he mustered out on December 11, 1859.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army on May 13, 1861, and he mustered in as a corporal in Company B of the 2^nd Virginia Cavalry later that day. The regiment took part in the Battle of Bull Run, the Seven Days’ Battles, the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, and the siege of Petersburg. He was promoted to sergeant on January 6, 1862. He apparently fell ill in September 1862, shortly after Antietam, and his service records list him as “in enemy lines.” He returned to his regiment by November 1862, and he was promoted to 2^nd lieutenant on May 8, 1863. He was wounded at least three times: on May 8, 1864, on August 31, 1864, and on September 24, 1864. He was hospitalized in the fall of 1864, and he mustered out sometime after November 1864.

 

Isbell returned to his parents’ household in Appomattox County after the war, and by 1880, he was working as a miner. He apparently never married. By 1900, he was living with his brother William in Stonewall, Virginia. He remained there for the rest of his life, and he died of “senile disability” in Stonewall on September 27, 1921.

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