Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I te tau 1861, i te 19 o ona tau, i uru a Roberts hei tangata takitahi i te Kamupene C o te 19th Regiment North Carolina Infantry, i muri mai ka tohua ko te 2nd Regiment NC Cavalry. I te wa i mahi ai ia i nga mahi a te ope i North Carolina, engari kaore he whakangungu hoia mana, i whakatairangahia ia ki te tuarua tuarua i te Akuhata 30, 1861. I te Mahuru 13, 1862, i whakatairangahia a Roberts ki te Tumuaki Tuatahi. I whakawhitihia te rerenga a Roberts ki Virginia i te ngahuru o taua tau ano ka uru ki etahi pakanga, i roto i era: Te Pakanga o Fredericksburg, te Pakanga o Suffolk, me te Pakanga o te Teihana Brandy. I te Noema 13, 1863, i whakatairangahia a Roberts ki te rangatira, ka nui ake i mua o te puna o te tau 1864, i te wa i whawhai ai ia i roto i te brigade o North Carolina o te wehenga a William Henry Fitzhugh Lee. I whakatairangahia ia ki te koronel i te Pipiri 1864 a i te wa o te Siege o Petersburg, i whakawhiwhia ia ki te rangatira o te 2nd Regiment NC Cavalry. I arahi a Roberts i tetahi whakapae ki nga pouaka o te Uniana, i heke, i eke ki nga poka pupuhi, i hopukina etahi hoia o te Uniana i te
Te Pakanga Tuarua o Ream's Station i te Akuhata 25, 1864. I te Hui-tanguru 23, 1865, i whakatairangahia a Roberts ki te rangatira rangatira. E ai ki te tikanga, i whakawhiwhia e General Robert E. Lee ki a Roberts nga kaakahu whaiaro a Lee hei whakanui i te ratonga rongonui a Roberts. I haere tonu a Roberts ki te whakahau i tana pereti i te Pakanga o nga Forks e rima, a, i te mutunga, ka tuku i te Pakanga o Appomattox Court House, i te Paenga-whāwhā 9, 1865.