As the bakufu was short of manpower at the Battle of Toba and Fushimi, he was appointed as a commander, and even after the fall of Edo Castle, he fought the army of the new government at Ichikawa, Funabashi and the like, eventually being injured and withdrawing from the battlefront.
鳥羽伏見の戦いでは、人材不足の幕府側の指揮官として戦ったことが認められ、江戸城開城後も市川・船橋戦争などで新政府軍と戦うも負傷して戦線を離脱する。