Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - A 1861, Hawkins ya taimaka wajen tayar da 9th New York Infantry, wani rukunin Zouave-style, wanda aka fi sani da "Hawkins Zouaves" don hidima a cikin yakin basasa. An nada Hawkins a matsayin colonel na rundunar a ranar 4 ga Mayu, 1861 kuma ya yi aiki tare da bambanci a Arewacin Carolina a farkon yakin. Ya kasance wani ɓangare na tafiyar Benjamin F. Butler don kama Fort Hatteras
a shekara ta 1861. Da yake sa ran samun ci gaba ga brigadier janar don aikinsa a Fort Hatteras sai a maimakon haka aka sauke shi daga umurnin don rashin biyayya. A ranar 8 ga Oktoba, 1861, Hawkins ya yi fushi ya rubuta "janar-janar na brigadier an yi su ne daga irin wannan abu mai ban mamaki a zamanin yau, cewa bai kamata in yi la'akari da shi ba wani babban abin girmamawa da za a yi shi". Hawkins a gaskiya za ta karbi kyautar kyautar ga brigadier janar a 1866 don darajar daga Maris 13, 1865. Duk da yake ya yi yaƙi da sauri na Hawkins ya kama hankalin Shugaba Abraham Lincoln. An gayyaci Hawkins zuwa Fadar White House don yin shawarwari tare da Shugaba da Janar-in-Chief George B. McClellan. A can ya taimaka wajen shawo kan babban kwamandan kungiyar game da yiwuwar hadin gwiwa a kan Pamlico Sound a Arewacin Carolina.