Edwin Lewis Lybarger
(1840-1924)

On November 25, 1861, EDWIN LYBARGER and his friends from Union Township in Knox County, Ohio, enlisted together as privates in Capt. William Walker's company at Camp Andrews near Mount Vernon. Joining nine other companies to form the 43rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry regiment, they left Ohio on Feb., 21, 1862 for Missouri, where they were assigned to Colonel Fuller's Ohio Brigade. Now a sergeant, Edwin's first action was at the siege of New Madrid, Missouri in March 1862.

At the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi in October 1862, Edwin was severely wounded, but recovered to return to his regiment in Tennessee by early 1863. Promoted to 1st Lieutenant, in 1864, he served as the regiment's quartermaster during Sherman's March to the Sea.

He mustered out and returned home in July, 1865 to marry his hometown sweetheart Sophronia Warren Rogers. She died of typhoid in 1882. Three years later he married Nancy Moore, naming their only son after his 43rd regiment's colonel. A lifelong Republican, he was elected three times to the state legislature, built a prosperous life as store owner, banker, elected politician, and sheep rancher. He was active in the GAR, and never visited the South again.