service in April, 1861, immediately after the firing upon Fort Sumter, and was elected and commissioned lieutenant. The company rendezvoused at Harrisburg early on the morning of April 18th, being the first military organization to occupy Camp Curtin. Upon the organization of regiments, it became Company G, Third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. Lieutenant Campbell was appointed regimental quartermaster April 20th. He served with his command as a part of the Second Brigade, Second Division, under General Patterson, in the campaign on the upper Potomac, in the vicinity of the mouth of the Shenandoah Valley, until the expiration of its term of service, when it returned to Harrisburg and was mustered out, July 28, 1861.
Lieutenant Campbell was at once commissioned colonel by Governor Curtin, and authorized to recruit a regiment for three years' service, and mainly through his effort was organized and brought into service the famous Fifty-fourth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, which as soon as prepared for the field was ordered to Washington City. It there remained until March 29, 1862, when Colonel Campbell was ordered to report with his command to General Miles, commanding at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, who directed him to occupy the line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad from North Mountain Station to the south branch of the Potomac river, a distance of fifty-six miles, it being his mission to fortify and hold the most important points, in order to afford security to the passage of trains conveying troops and military stores. In September the forces under General Miles were driven into Harper's Ferry and captured by the Confederate forces under General "Stonewall" Jackson, with the single exception of the Fifty-fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, Colonel Campbell succeeding in holding his position, the only regiment left south of the Potomac, between Cumberland and the defenses at Washington. After the battle of Antietam, Colonel Campbell's regiment was temporaily attached to General Franklin's (Sixth) Corps.
On March 6, 1863, Colonel Campbell's regiment was ordered to Romney, and he was there assigned to the command of the Fourth Brigade, First Division, Eighth Army Corps, and with this force he proceeded to occupy the various mountain passes in that region, making his headquarters at Mechanicsburg Gap, his troops being in almost daily conflict with detachments of the Confederate army and the guerrilla forces infesting that region. June 14, Colonel Campbell, with his brigade was ordered to New Creek to aid in its defense against a threatened attack. July 5th his command formed part of a column under General Kelly, which marched to Fairview, Maryland, to prevent General Lee's forces from gaining possession of the fortifications at Cherry Run and points further west on the Potomac. July 16th he crossed the Potomac at Cherry Run and marched to Hedgeville, driving the enemy from that place. August 2d Colonel Campbell, with his brigade, was ordered to return to his former stations among the Hampshire mountains. He was there actively engaged until November 6th, when he was ordered to Springfield, West Virginia, and to the command of all the troops along the railroad from Cherry Run to New Creek, a distance of ninety miles, in addition to his own brigade, equivalent to the command of a major-general. On January 4th, 1864, he was ordered with his brigade to Cumberland, then threatened by the forces of Rosser and Fitzhugh Lee, and here remained until General Sigel took command of the Department of West Virginia. In April, in the re-organization of troops preparatory to the contemplated movement up the valley of the Shenandoah,
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