Robert Allen was born on June 22, 1834, in Shenandoah County, Virginia and graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1855. He practiced law in Salem before the war. On July 1, 1861, Allen was commissioned major of the 28th Virginia Infantry, and promoted to colonel, on April 20, 1862.

During Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, on July 3, 1863, Colonel Allen grabbed the regimental flag when the color bearer went down. He advanced to the stone wall and was shot down. Allen handed off the flag, placed his hat at the tip of his sword, waved it in victory and died.

After his death, Col. Allen was buried with his men in a mass grave in front of the stone wall. Most likely his remains were removed in the 1870s and sent south to Richmond and buried in the "Gettysburg Dead" Section of Hollywood Cemetery as an unknown. His name does not appear on records of identified remains removed from the battlefield.

Robert C Allen