By the end of the 1865 Appomattox Campaign, it was Sheridan's cavalry, including the 6th U.S. Cavalry, that closed the final escape route that culminated in the surrender Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the symbolic end of the Civil War. Although Nolan was not present due to his parole, his regiment and the men he led and trained stood tall on that day. Throughout the course of the war, Nolan served in most of the 16 campaigns and many of the 166 battles related to them from the 1861 Peninsula Campaign, the 1862 Maryland Campaign, Campaign at Fredericksburg, the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, Chancellorsville (in Stoneman's raid to the rear of Lee's army), the 1864 The Wilderness and to the final 1865 Appomattox Campaign. Nolan received a brevet promotion to the ranks of first lieutenant and captain during the Civil War.