the family moved to a farm outside Live Oak Station in Suwannee County. Military service 2nd Florida Infantry and capture On June 12, 1861, Lewis Powell left home and traveled to Jasper, Florida, where he enlisted in Company I of the 2nd Florida Infantry. He was accepted because he lied about his age – he claimed to be 19. Powell's unit fought in March and April 1862, in the Peninsula Campaign. Powell became a battle-hardened and effective soldier. He won praise from his commanding officers, and claimed that when he shot his rifle he did so to kill – never to wound. He was alleged to have carried the skull of a Union soldier with him, which he used as an ashtray. His one-year enlistment having expired, Powell received a two-month furlough, during which time he returned home to visit his family. He re-enlisted at Jasper on May 8, 1862. In November 1862, Powell fell ill and was hospitalized at General Hospital No. 11 in Richmond, Virginia. He returned to active duty within a few weeks, and fought in the Battle of Fredericksburg. His unit was then assigned to Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, which was organized at the beginning of 1863. Third Corps finally went into combat at the Battle of Gettysburg. Powell was shot in the right wrist on July 2. He was captured, and sent to a prisoner of war hospital at Pennsylvania College. Transferred to Camp Letterman, the vast medical field hospital northeast of Gettysburg, on July 6, Powell worked as a nurse in the camp and at Pennsylvania College until September 1, when he was turned over to the Provost Marshal. He was taken by train to Baltimore, Maryland, and—still a POW—began working on September 2, at West Buildings Hospital. In Baltimore, Powell met and developed a relationship with a woman named Margaret "Maggie" Branson, who was volunteering as a nurse. It is believed that Branson assisted Lewis in escaping from the hospital on September 7. Some historians contend that she actually provided him with a Union Army uniform. Escape and Mosby's Rangers Margaret Branson took Powell to her mother's boarding house at 16 North Eutaw Street in Baltimore. Maryland was split during the Civil War. West of the Atlantic Fall Line the central and western parts of the state largely being settled by Germans from Pennsylvania and other Northerners during the 18th Century,