In 1860, census records showed that Mahone owned seven African-American slaves: three male (ages 13, 4, 2) and four female (ages 45, 24, 11, 1). American Civil War As the political differences between Northern and Southern factions escalated in the second half of the 19th century, Mahone was in favor of secession of the Southern states. During the American Civil War, he was active in the conflict even before he became an officer in the Confederate Army. Early in the War, in 1861, his Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad was especially valuable to the Confederacy and transported ordnance to the Norfolk area where it was used during the Confederate occupation. By the end of the war, most of what was left of the railroad was in Federal hands. After Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861, Mahone was still a civilian and not yet in the Confederate Army, but working in coordination with Walter Gwynn, he orchestrated the ruse and capture of the Gosport Shipyard. He bluffed the Federal troops into abandoning the shipyard in Portsmouth by running a single passenger train into Norfolk with great noise and whistle-blowing, then much more quietly sending it back west, and then returning the same train again, creating the illusion of large numbers of arriving troops to the Federals listening in Portsmouth across the Elizabeth River (and just barely out of sight). The ruse worked, and not a single Confederate soldier was lost as the Union authorities abandoned the area and retreated to Fort Monroe across Hampton Roads. After this, Mahone accepted a commission as lieutenant colonel and later colonel of the 6th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and remained in Norfolk, which was now under the command of Benjamin Huger. Mahone was subsequently promoted to brigadier general on November 16, 1861, and commanded the Confederate's Norfolk district until its evacuation the following year. In May 1862, after the evacuation of Norfolk by Southern forces during the Peninsula Campaign, he aided in the construction of the defenses of Richmond on the James River around Drewry's Bluff. A short time later, he led his brigade at the Battle of Seven Pines, and the Battle of Malvern Hill. After the defense of Richmond, Mahone's brigade was assigned from Huger's division, to the division of Richard H. Anderson and fought at the subsequent battle of Second Bull Run, where Mahone was shot in the chest while leading