Levi Bybee was born around 1839 in Ohio to Washington and Mary Bybee. His father was a farmer who owned $10,000 of real estate and $3,120 of personal property by 1860. The family moved to Franklin, Indiana, in the early 1840s, and Bybee grew up and attended school there. He married Silence Raber around 1860, and their son Levi was born soon afterward.
He enlisted in the Union army on August 18, 1862, and mustered in as a private in Company F of the 74th Indiana Infantry later that day. The regiment took part in the Battle of Perryville, the Battle of Stones River, and the Battle of Chickamauga. He remained devoted to the Union, denouncing the Confederate “Traitors [who] are threatening our Countries destruction.” In April 1863, he copied the words of a song that read, "I enlisted in the Army / To help my countrys cause / Because I loved It dearly / And would sustain its laws.” He was killed at Chickamauga on September 19, 1863.