Ka cika wannan furcin: Sa'ad da aka kafa Kwalejin Noma ta Jihar New York (da aka haɗa da Jami'ar Cornell) a Ovid, New York, Kimball ya zama Farfesa na Chemistry da kuma Ilimin Ilimin Tattalin Arziki. Da barkewar yakin basasar Amurka a 1861, an nada shugaban kwalejin, Maj. M. R. Patrick a matsayin Birgediya Janar na Masu Sa kai; Kimball ya zama Shugaban Ma'aikatan Brig. Janar Patrick, tare da mukamin Kyaftin. Ya ga aikin filin a karkashin Maj. Janar Irvin McDowell, kuma ya kasance a karo na biyu na Bull Run (Agusta 28-30, 1862);
Yaƙin Chantilly (1 ga Satumba, 1862); Yaƙin Kudancin Mountain (14 ga Satumba, 1862); Yaƙin Antietam (17 ga Satumba, 1862); Yaƙin Fredericksburg (11-15 ga Disamba, 1862); Yaƙin Chancellorsville (30 ga Afrilu zuwa 6 ga Mayu, 1863); da Yaƙin Gettysburg (1 ga Yuli, 1863). Daga nan sai aka nada Brig. Janar Patrick a matsayin Babban Jami'in Sojojin Potomac, kuma Kyaftin Kimball ya bi shi a can, yana aiki a Janar Janar karkashin Janar George B. McClellan, Ambrose Burnside, Joseph Hooker, da George Meade a jere.