Abel Hensel was born, October 23rd, 1833 in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. He was the fifth of twelve children born to John and Rachel (Barton) Hensel. Both of Abel’s grandfathers served in the military, his paternal grandfather, Frederick Hensel, having been killed during the War of 1812, and his maternal grandfather, Eli Barton, having served during the American Revolution.

Young Hensel was reared on a farm and acquired a fair education in the public schools. At the age of eighteen, Abel began an apprenticeship in the blacksmith’s trade. When he was twenty-one, he immigrated to Bureau County, Illinois, where he worked at this trade for a number of years.

On April 12th, 1861, Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, was bombarded by rebel forces, thus initiating the American Civil War. Two days later, President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion. Abel Hensel was among the first to answer his President’s call, enlisting on April 20th as a Private in Company I, 12th Illinois Infantry, a three-month regiment. The regiment was dispatched to Cairo, Illinois, at the confluence of Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, where they were part of the garrison there. They performed fatigue duty, built barracks, cleared the parade grounds, and built defenses and redan earthworks to prevent Confederate gunboats from advancing up the rivers.

At the expiration of his three-month term of service, Abel Hensel re-enlisted on August 1, 1861, again in the 12th Illinois Infantry, which had been reorganized as a three-year regiment. This time he was mustered in as a Corporal. The regiment remained at Cairo, Illinois until September 5th when it was moved to Paducah, Kentucky and was among the first regiments to occupy that city.

The regiment endured the cold, snow, hunger, and fatigue of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s important victory at Fort Donelson, Tennessee in February 1862. The 12th Illinois was heavily engaged and lost 19 killed, 58 wounded, and 10 missing.

On March 19th the regiment went into camp at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, and subsequently participated in the bloody fight at Shiloh on April 6-7, 1862. It was engaged nearly all the time of the two days. The regiment lost 109 killed and wounded, and 7 missing. Among the casualties was Corporal Abel Hensel, who received two wounds. The nature of these wounds are unknown, but they were probably minor, as Abel was not removed from active duty.

From April 28, 1862 until the first of October, the regiment was stationed in and around Corinth, Mississippi. There were heavily engaged in the battle there on October 3-4, losing 17 killed, 80 wounded, and 15 missing.

They remained at Corinth most of the time until June 6, 1863, when the regiment moved to Pocahontas, Tennessee for railroad guard duty. On October 29th, being attached to the left wing of the Fifteenth Corps under Gen. William T. Sherman, they moved as rear guard, via Corinth and Iuka, then crossed the Tennessee River at Eastport, to Lauderdale, Alabama, where they destroyed an immense cotton factory. For the remainder of 1863, the regiment performed various train and wagon guard duties in Tennessee.

On January 16, 1864, Abel Hensel was among the 311 soldiers that chose to re-enlist as veteran volunteers. Those that re-enlisted were granted a well-deserved furlough. While at home on his furlough, Abel married on February 11, 1864 to Catharine “Kate” Fribley, the daughter of David Fribley. She was also born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, on September 17, 1845.

After their furlough, the veteran volunteers were re-organized at Camp Fry , Chicago in March 1864, then sent back to Tennessee.

The regiment was actively engaged in the Atlanta Campaign, being assigned to the Second Brigade, Second Division, Left Wing, Sixteenth Army Corps.

On July 22, 1864, during the battle of Atlanta, Abel was wounded by a bullet that entered his right breast and traveled through his right arm. This wound later impaired the strength and motion of the arm and made it difficult to raise above his head.

Abel Hensel soon recovered enough from these wounds to return to full duty with his regiment. However, he was again wounded at the battle of Allatoona, Georgia on October 5, 1864. This time a musket ball hit him in the right hip and left groin, fracturing his femur and dislocating his hip. The wound was so severe that he was initially left for dead on the battlefield.

Hensel never fully recovered from this latter wound, which left his leg shorter and approximately half as functional. He was discharged for disability at Columbus, Ohio on March 14, 1865.

After the close of the war, Abel spent two years living with his parents in Ohio, being unable to work on account of his wounds. His pension file from the U.S. Government shows a disability rating of 75 percent. In 1867, he returned to Illinois, where he remained until 1879, when he moved to De Kalb County, Missouri. There he purchased a farm of 325 acres and became a member of the Capt. C. C. Harvey Post No. 96, Grand Army of the Republic, at Maysville, Missouri.

He and his wife, Kate, had a total of six children: Rachel Margaret, born 1865; David F., born 1869; Henry Huston, born 1871; Emily Mabel, born 1877; Enos Arthur, born 1881; and Ethel May, born 1887.

Abel Hensel died in Maysville, Missouri on June 20, 1902 at the age of 89 years, and was laid to rest in the Fairlawn Cemetery, De Kalb County, Missouri.