Keyes saw action at Lee's Mill, Yorktown, Bottom's Bridge, Savage's Station, Seven Pines (Fair Oaks), Charles City Cross Roads, Malvern Hill, and Harrison's Landing. For gallantry at Fair Oaks, Keyes received the brevet of brigadier general in the regular army. After the Seven Days Battles, McClellan promoted all his corps and division commanders to the rank of major general, aside from Keyes, who did not receive a promotion and remained a brigadier general. When the army returned to Washington D.C. in early August, Keyes and one of the two IV Corps divisions were permanently left behind on the Peninsula as part of General John Dix's Department of the James. On March 12, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln nominated Keyes for promotion to the grade of major general, U.S. Volunteers, to rank from May 5, 1862 and the U.S. Senate confirmed the award on March 13, 1863. In addition to the IV Corps, he commanded the Yorktown District, VII Corps, and the division at Suffolk. Among Keyes's other actions were the raid to White House, Virginia, on January 7, 1863, and the expedition to West Point, Virginia, on May 7, 1863.