Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - A watan Mayu 1862, bayan da sojojin Kudancin suka kwashe Norfolk a lokacin Yaƙin Peninsula, ya taimaka wajen gina kariya ta Richmond a kan Kogin James a kusa da Drewry's Bluff
Ka yi haƙuri. Ba da daɗewa ba, ya jagoranci rundunarsa a yakin Bakwai Bakwai, da kuma yakin Malvern Hill. Bayan kare Richmond, an sanya brigade na Mahone daga sashin Huger, zuwa sashin Richard H. Anderson kuma ya yi yaƙi a yakin na biyu na Bull Run, inda aka harbe Mahone a kirji yayin da yake jagorantar brigade a cikin caji a fadin Chinn Ridge. Ƙananan girma,, da kuma yin la'akari da kawai, an kira shi "Little Billy". Kamar yadda daya daga cikin sojojinsa ya ce, "Ya kasance soja ne a kowane inci, ko da yake ba shi da inci da yawa". Otelia Mahone yana aiki a Richmond a matsayin nas, lokacin da Gwamnan Virginia John Letcher ya aika da labarin cewa Mahone ya ji rauni a karo na biyu na Bull Run, amma ya sami "raunin jiki" kawai. An ce ta amsa "Yanzu na san yana da tsanani ga William ba shi da nama ko kaɗan".