Robert Nathaniel Bivens volunteered and enlisted as a private on 16 September 1861 at Monroe, NC with a company known as the "North Carolina Defenders".  

He served until wounded in the face and leg during the Pettigrew-Pickett charge at Gettysburg on 3 July 1863, but returned to duty in autumn of the same year.  Muster rolls report Blevins absent without leave in September and October of 1864 and as present and on detached service from November 1864 to February 1865.  He rejoined the 37th NC for the war's last campaign, however, and was one of only seventeen members of his company, and 108 of his regiment to surrender at Appomattox Court House on 9 April 1865.