After graduation he worked on the construction of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge as a civilian engineer and later he had some part in the river regulation of the Lower-Danube. He joined with freedom-fighter Lajos Kossuth in the 1848 revolutionary movement. In December 1848 he was promoted to captain. During his time as captain, he took part in the battles of Kápolna and Nagysalló. On the spring of 1849 he was promoted to the rank of major, then he became an adjutant of Kossuth and achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. Asboth traveled with Kossuth to the Ottoman Empire and then to the United States in 1851, after the revolution failed.