When the Civil War broke out, Anderson joined the Confederate Army in the insurrection of his home state. He became
colonel of the 11th Georgia Infantry regiment but arrived too late to participate in the
First Battle of Bull Run. He saw battle during the
Peninsula Campaign at
Yorktown and commanded a
brigade during the
Seven Days Battles,
Second Bull Run,
Fox's Gap,
Antietam, and
Fredericksburg. He was promoted to brigadier general on November 1, 1862. Anderson missed
Chancellorsville being with the majority of
Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's
First Corps operating in southeastern
Virginia. Longstreet's men rejoined the
Army of Northern Virginia in time for the
Gettysburg campaign. Anderson fought around
Devil's Den and the
Wheatfield at
Gettysburg, where he was wounded. He recuperated in the
Charleston area while Longstreet's Corps went to Georgia. Anderson did not rejoin his men until the
Siege of Knoxville. He saw heavy action in 1864 at the
Wilderness,
Spotsylvania,
Cold Harbor, and the
operations around Richmond and Petersburg. He surrendered with Lee at
Appomattox Court House in April 1865. ==Postbellum life==