Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I te tau 1861, i awhina a Hawkins ki te whakaara i te 9th New York Infantry, he reimana i hangaia e Zouave, e mohiotia whanuitia ana ko "Hawkins Zouaves" mo te mahi i roto i te Pakanga Tangata. I tohua a Hawkins hei koroneela o te rerenga i te Mei 4, 1861 a i mahi ia ki te wehewehe i North Carolina i te timatanga o te pakanga. Ko ia te wāhanga o te haerenga a Benjamin F. Butler ki
Te hopu i a Fort Hatteras i te tau 1861. I te tumanako kia eke ia ki te perehitini mo tana mahi i Fort Hatteras, i whakakahoretia ia mo te whakahau mo te tutu. I te Oketopa 8, 1861, i tuhituhi a Hawkins i te riri "ko nga rangatira o te brigadier he mea whakamiharo i enei ra, kaore au e whakaaro he honore nui ki te waiho hei kotahi". Ka whiwhi a Hawkins i te whakatairanga i te brevet ki te brigadier general i te tau 1866 ki te taumata mai i te Maehe 13, 1865. Ahakoa tana riri, ko te tono wawe a Hawkins i aro atu ki a Perehitini Aperahama Lincoln. I karangatia a Hawkins ki te White House ki te korero ki te Perehitini me te Tiamana-i-Tiamana a George B. McClellan. I reira i whai wāhi ia ki te whakatenatena i te mana nui o te Uniana mo te kaha o te mahi honohono ki Pamlico Sound i North Carolina.