Hoke returned to Lincolnton, where he managed various family business interests for his widowed mother, including a cotton mill and iron works.

Within months, he was promoted to captain and was commended for "coolness, judgment and efficiency" in D. H. Hill's report of the Battle of Big Bethel.

[4] Upon Colonel Avery's return from captivity, Hoke was assigned as commander of the 21st North Carolina in Isaac Trimble's brigade in Jubal Early's division.

Hoke commanded the brigade at the Battle of Fredericksburg and helped repulse an attack by Union forces under Maj. Gen. George G. Meade.

Hoke was promoted to brigadier general on January 17, 1863,[4] and assigned permanent command of Trimble's brigade, which was composed of five North Carolina regiments.

He was severely wounded defending Marye's Heights while the majority of the armies fought at the Battle of Chancellorsville and was sent home to recuperate.

Hoke resumed command of his brigade at Petersburg, Virginia, in January 1864, and led it to North Carolina, where he organized attacks on New Bern and Plymouth.

[5] These men had been captured in the Battle of New Bern, and were found to have previously served in North Carolina Partisan Ranger units.

General George Pickett ordered that they should be court martialed for desertion from the Confederate Army, and the subsequent hangings were carried out by the 54th Regiment, North Carolina Troops of Hoke's brigade.

He also fought in the Carolinas Campaign and the Battle of Bentonville, where he repulsed several attacks by forces under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman before overwhelming numbers began to push the Confederates back.

[7] Hoke developed Northern ties when on January 7, 1869, he married Lydia Van Wyck, who was of a prominent political family from New York City.