Tuhia he haere tonu mo tenei whitianga - I te mutunga o Pipiri, 1861, ka hainatia e Hotchkiss hei kaipuke waka a te Rōpū ki te kawe taonga ki te Churchville Cavalry i Rich Mountain, West Virginia. I tukuna e Hotchkiss ana ratonga hei kaihanga mahere ki a Brig. Gen. Richard B. Garnett, ko tana roopu Confederate e mahi ana i te hauauru o Virginia. I mahi a Hotchkiss i Rich Mountain me te hanga mahere mo te kaupapa a General Robert E. Lee i nga maunga. I tangohia e ia he haerenga hauora poto i muri i tana whiu i te mate typhoid, engari i hoki mai ia ki te mahi i te Maehe 1862 hei kaitohutohu matua mo te rohe o te raorao, e ripoata ana ki a Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson. Whai muri i te hinganga tuatahi i te Pakanga o Kernstown i te wa o tana 1862 Valley Campaign
, i te 26 o Poutu-te-rangi 1862, ka karanga a Jackson ki a Hotchkiss ki tona tari matua i Narrow Passage e tata ana ki Woodstock ka tohutohu ki a ia kia "hanga i tetahi mahere mo te Raorao, mai i Harper's Ferry ki Lexington, e whakaatu ana i nga waahi katoa o te whakaeke me te tiaki [sic] i aua waahi. " Ko te taunakitanga a Hotchkiss ko te raina a Jackson i Stony Creek i Woodstock kaore e taea te tiaki, me hoki atu a Jackson ki Rude's Hill, he waahi iti e taea ana te tiaki i te tonga o Mt. He aha te take? I Rude's Hill i whakariterite ai a Jackson i tana whakahau mo te toenga o tana pakanga angitu i te tau 1862 i te raorao o Shenandoah.