Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I te 25 o ona tau, ka uru a Hoffman ki te mahi hōia i te Pakanga ā-Iwi. Whai muri i tana whakauru ki Philadelphia i te Akuhata 10, 1861, ka whakauruhia e ia i taua ra ano hei tangata takitahi me te Kamupene E o te 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry (e mohiotia ana ko te "Fire Zouaves"). I kawea ia me tana roopu ki Virginia, i kite ia i te pakanga i Ball's Bluff (21 Oketopa 1861), i uru ki nga mahi a nga hoia o te Uniana o Major-General Nathaniel P. Banks i Winchester me Yorktown, i whawhai hoki i nga Pakanga e whitu o nga Ra o
E whitu nga Pines (e mohiotia ana ko Fair Oaks, Mei 31 ki te Pipiri 1, 1862), te Teihana Savage (Hune 29, 1862), me Malvern Hill (Hōngongoi 1, 1862) i mua i te uru atu ki nga pakanga o Antietam (Hepetema 17, 1862), Fredericksburg (Hakarere 12-15 1862), me Chancellorsville (Paenga-whawha 30 ki Mei 6, 1863). I te Oketopa 1, 1863, i whakawhitihia ia ki te Kamupene 143 o te 2nd Battalion, U.S. Veteran Reserve Corps (e mohiotia ana hoki ko te roopu hauā), ana i muri mai ka whakahonoretia ia.