Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I muri i te wehenga o te kawanatanga o Mississippi i mua noa o te tiimata o te Pakanga a-iwi, ka wehe a Barksdale mai i te Kaunihera kia noho hei kaitiaki rangatira, ka mutu ko te rangatira rangatira, o te Mississippi Militia, i te taumata o te rangatira rangatira, me te ra o te ra 1 o Poutu-te-rangi 1861. I te 1 o Mei, i tohua ia hei koronel i te ope taua o te 13th Mississippi Infantry, he roopu i arahina e ia i te Pakanga Tuatahi o Bull Run i taua raumati, me te Pakanga o Ball's Bluff i Oketopa. I te puna e whai ake nei, i mauria e ia tana rerenga ki te Peninsula o Virginia ka whawhai ki te Whakatairanga Peninsula me nga Pakanga e whitu nga Ra. I te wā i whara mate ai tana kaihautū, a Brig. Gen. Richard Griffith, i te pakanga
I te pakanga o Savage's Station i te Pipiri 29, 1862, i riro i a Barksdale te mana o te piritiata ka arahi i a ia i roto i te toa, engari he toto, he koretake hoki, i te Pakanga o Malvern Hill. I mohiotia te piritihana ko "Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade". I whakatairangahia ia ki te rangatira rangatira i te 12 o Akuhata 1862.