Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - A lokacin hunturu na 1861-62, Willson ya shiga cikin tsare-tsaren Baltimore da Ohio Railroad da kuma yakin basasa a Virginia a karkashin Janar Nathaniel Banks da John Pope. Ya yi yaƙi a yakin Antietam, Satumba 17, 1862. A ranar 5 ga Mayu, 1863, an ji masa rauni sosai a yakin Chancellorsville Virginia. Bai koma aiki ba har zuwa watan Satumba na 1863 a karkashin Janar Joseph Hooker lokacin da XI da XII Corps na Sojojin Potomac suka koma yamma don karfafa sojojin Cumberland a kusa da Chattanooga, Tennessee. A can Willson ya shiga cikin yaƙe-yaƙe na Wauhatchie, Lookout Mountain
, Mishan Ridge, Peavine Creek, da kuma Ringgold Gap.