Tuhia he haere tonu mo tenei whitianga - I te Poutu-te-rangi 1861, i whakawhiwhia a Ferguson ki te rangatira o te ope taua o South Carolina, i muri mai ka tohua hei Lieutenant me te aide-de-camp ki te C.S. Army Brigadier-General P. G. T. Beauregard. Ko ia tetahi o nga rangatira i whiwhi i te tukunga o te US Army Major Robert Anderson i Fort Sumter, i whakaarahia te haki tuatahi o nga Kawanatanga o te Rōpū, a i tukuna nga kaitiaki tuatahi ki Fort Sumter. Whai muri i te whakapae, i tukuna ia ki te whakaatu i te haki Confederate tuatahi i patua e te hoariri ki te Kaunihera Motuhake o nga Whenua Confederate. Ko ia he kaitiaki-koroneela me te kaitiaki o te puni ki a General Beauregard i te Pakanga o Shiloh
He aha? I te Pakanga o Farmington, i roto ia i te 28th Mississippi Cavalry Regiment. I whakahau ia i te wae i te wa e tiaki ana ia i a Vicksburg, a i awhina ia ki te aukati i nga whakaeke a te US Major-General William T. Sherman me te US Commodore David Porter.