Kammala wannan jumla: Da yake amsa kiran da Shugaba Abraham Lincoln ya yi na shiga yaƙi a lokacin da aka soma Yaƙin Basasa, Ward ya ɗauki rundunar sojojin New York na 38 kuma aka naɗa shi a matsayin babban kwamandanta na farko. Ya jagoranci rundunarsa a Yakin Bull Run na farko a watan Yulin 1861, ya zama kwamandan kwamandan Brig. Janar Orlando B. Willcox lokacin da aka ji rauni a yakin. Ya gaba ya ga aiki a cikin 1862 Peninsula Campaign a Brig. Janar David B. Birney ta brigade na III Corps. Ward ya ci gaba da yin aiki sosai a lokacin yakin Arewacin Virginia, yana ganin ƙarin aiki a Bull Run na biyu da
Chantilly. - Ta yaya za ka yi haka? Domin kokarinsa, an ci gaba da shi zuwa brigadier janar na masu sa kai a ranar 4 ga Oktoba, 1862, kuma an ba shi umurnin abin da ya kasance Birney's brigade a cikin III Corps na Army of the Potomac. (Birney ya yi nasara da Manjo Janar Philip Kearny, wanda aka kashe ya jagoranci sashinsa a Chantilly.) Ward ya umurci brigade a Fredericksburg da kuma Chancellorsville.