Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I te whakauru ki te ope taua i te Paenga-whāwhā 1861, ka noho a Kennedy hei rangatira mo te Kamupene E, 2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment, i raro i te hoa noho Camden a Col. Joseph Brevard Kershaw. I te Pakanga Tuatahi o Manassas, i patua ia e te pōro Minie, ka whara kino. I te whakaoranga, i whakatairangahia ia ki te koronel i te wa i whakatairangahia ai a Kershaw ki te rangatira rangatira. Ko te mahi tuatahi a Kennedy i runga i te whakahau o te ope i puta i te pakanga i te Nine-Mile Road e tata ana ki Richmond, Virginia, i te Pipiri 1862 i te Peninsula Campaign. I muri i te whawhai i te
I te Pakanga o te Teihana o Savage, i mate ia mo nga wiki maha na te werawera. I hoki ia ki tana rerenga i te wa mo te pakanga o Maryland. I a Stonewall Jackson e whakangao ana ki Harpers Ferry, i te taha o Kennedy a Kershaw i te hopu i nga mea nui o Maryland Heights. I arahina e ia tana rerenga i te whakaekenga a Kershaw i te Pakanga o Antietam, i peia e ia tetahi waahanga o te Uniana II Corps i mua i a ia. Heoi, i whara kino ia i te whakaekenga tuatahi, i patua i roto i te waewae me te tendon Achilles i a ia e whiti ana i te taiepa rakau i te taha o te Hagerstown Pike. I te wa ano i ora ai ia mo te pakanga nui, i arahina e Kennedy te 2 me te 8 o South Carolina ki te tautoko a Gen. Howell Cobb i Marye's Heights, te arotahi o nga pakanga tino wera i Fredericksburg.