In 1861 he enlisted in company C, 49th Tennessee Infantry, and was taken prisoner with his regiment at the fall of Fort Donelson in February 1862. In September of that year he was released in a prisoner exchange. He transferred to the 9th Tennessee Cavalry in the spring of 1863, and was with Morgan and his raid into Ohio. He was also in the battles of Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and at Wytheville, Virginia. He was severely injured at Mount Sterling, Kentucky in June 1864. He was captured in confined at Camp Chase in Ohio until near the close of the war.