Pvt. Levi Absher, (CSA & USA)

Levi Absher served in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War in Company C, 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment as a Private and in the Union Army in Company F, 1st U.S. Volunteers.

The 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment is famous for having the highest casualty rate of any civil war regiment. He enlisted in the 26th North Carolina Infantry on June 12, 1861 at Wilkesboro, NC and mustered into service on August 31, 1861. Right from the beginning Levi Absher is listed as being sick, which resulted in him leaving his regiment without leave on October 1, 1861, not returning to his regiment until the early spring of 1862.

He was admitted to General Hospital at Petersburg, VA on August 4, 1862 for Debilitas and rertuned to duty two weeks later on August 14, 1862. On October 13, 1862 he was admitted to Episcopal Church Hospital in Williamsburg, VA for Remittens Febris (Remittent fever) and returned to duty on November 24, 1862. He was also wick with pneumonia sometime this time.

He served with his regiment until May 10, 1864, when he was captured by the Union forces at Wilderness, (possibly having left his regiment at the Battle of the Wilderness three days earlier). He was sent to to Point Lookout Prisoner of War camp in Maryland on May 18, 1864. While in the prison he expressed his desire to take an oath of allegiance to the Union and stated that he believed that the South was not in the right and was willing to sacrifice his property in North Carolina and to go to Indiana.

While at Point Lookout, Levi Absher joined the Union Army as a member of Company F, 1st U.S. Volunteers, a regiment of "Galvanized Yankees," former Confederate Prisoners of War who wore allegiance to the United States and joined the Union Army. He enlisted on June 15, 1864 at Point Lookout, MD and was mustered into service on June 25, 1864 at Norfolk, VA. His name is listed as Lewis in the company records, but when he enlisted, it was still Levi. On August 26, 1864 he was attached to the U.S.A. Post hospital at Camp Reno in Milwaukee, WI as a nurse. The muster rolls say that he was admitted to the hospital at Camp Reno in Milwaukee, WI as a patient on October 4, 1864. Either way, whether as a patient or a nurse, he stayed at the hospital until April 29, 1865, when he returned to duty with his regiment at Fort Snelling, near St. Paul, MN.

On July 1, 1865 he was attached to the hospital at Fort Snelling as a nurse, but was back with his regiment by October 1865. He worked as the company cook in early 1866. He mustered out on May 10, 1866.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26th_North_Carolina_Infantry
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanized_Yankees#United_States_Volu...