Old Bob

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Old Bob, sometimes called Old Robin (unconfirmed), was a bay driving horse born around 1849. He pulled a carriage for Abraham Lincoln before Lincoln became President and later took part in Lincoln’s funeral. The horse’s exact fate and date of death are unknown.

Lincoln bought Old Bob in Springfield, Illinois, to replace an older horse named Old Buck. Old Bob lived in a barn behind the Lincoln home with another horse, Old Tom, and he was used when Lincoln traveled on circuits not connected by railroad.

In 1860, after Lincoln was elected President, Old Bob was sold to John Flynn, a Springfield drayman. By 1865 Old Bob was put out to pasture, but on April 4 he came out of retirement to take part in a Springfield parade celebrating the fall of Richmond, Virginia. He wore a red, white and blue blanket for the occasion.

After Lincoln’s assassination, Old Bob was brought out again for the funeral cortège. He wore a black mourning blanket trimmed with silver fringe, and was led by Henry Brown. Old Bob’s position in the procession was just behind the hearse and in front of Robert Todd Lincoln’s carriage. Some say Robert Lincoln and Old Bob were the only Lincoln family members at the funeral.

After the funeral, there were offers to buy Old Bob for shows, but John Flynn did not sell him. Old Bob’s final fate remains unknown.

A statue at President Lincoln’s Cottage in Washington, D.C., created in 2008, shows Lincoln with a horse modeled after Old Bob; the sculptors studied a photograph of Old Bob for the design. In 2015, when Lincoln’s death anniversary was celebrated, the Springfield cortège was re-staged with Glory, the horse used by Daniel Day-Lewis in the film Lincoln, standing in for Old Bob. That year a children’s book, An Affectionate Farewell: The Story of Old Abe and Old Bob by Trudy Krisher, was published.