Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I whakarerea e Hardee tana komihana a te US Army i te Hanuere 31, 1861, i muri i te wehenga o tana whenua o Georgia mai i te Uniana. I uru atu ia ki te ope taua o nga Whenua o te Rōpū i te 7 o Poutu-te-rangi hei koromatua, ka whakawhiwhia ki a ia te whakahau o Forts Morgan me Gaines i Alabama. I muri mai ka whakatairangahia ia ki te rangatira rangatira (Hune 17) me te rangatira nui (Oketopa 7). I te Oketopa 10, 1862, ko ia tetahi o nga rangatira tuatahi o te Rōpū. Ko tana mahi tuatahi hei rangatira nui ko te whakarite i tetahi parirau o nga reimana o Arkansas a ka miharo ia ki ana tangata me ona hoa rangatira ma te whakatau i nga raru o te whakaurunga uaua me te whakangungu tino pai i whakawhiwhia e ia ki tana parirau. I riro i a ia tana ingoa ingoa, "Old Reliable", i a ia e whakahaere ana i tenei whakahau. I mahi a Hardee i Arkansas kia karangatia ra ano ia kia uru atu ki te ope taua a General Albert Sidney Johnston o Central Kentucky hei rangatira ope taua. Ka mawehe atu a Johnston i Kentucky me Tennessee, ki Mississippi, i mua i tana whakaekenga ohorere i te
Te Pakanga o Hiroa i te puna o te tau 1862. I whara a Hardee i te ringa i te Paenga-whawha 6, 1862, i te ra tuatahi o te pakanga. I mate a Johnston i Shiloh, a, i uru atu te ope a Hardee ki te ope a General Braxton Bragg o Tennessee i mua o te Siege o Corinth, Mississippi, tae noa ki te wehenga a te Kaiwhakahaere P.G.T. Beauregard i wehe atu i te taone nui ka hoki ki Tupelo. I whakakapihia a Beauregard e Bragg, i neke i muri mai tana ope ki Chattanooga i mua i te tiimata i tana whakaeke Confederate Heartland ki Kentucky. I mutu taua pakanga me te Pakanga o Perryville i te Oketopa 1862, i reira i whakahau ai a Hardee i te parirau maui o te ope a Bragg.