A Refugee Family

A Refugee Family. . As the Civil War moved into the Deep South, many people fled the shifting war front. Two coinciding events encouraged Henry Coker to become a refugee: the death of his wife and the approach of the Union navy, steaming up the Mississippi River from New Orleans. , After his wife died on April 30, 1862, Coker took his slaves and the two youngest children to Alabama, near Tuscaloosa. He returned in 1864. , "Ever since the last raid out here I have felt like I wished to get away in some safe place if such a place could be found." , Matilda Champion, Nov. 21, 1863. Matilda went to Madison County for a brief refuge with her parents. , "How foolish it is for the Southern people to flee and leave their beautiful property to the foe. We only want something to eat. There are some who would apply the torch to a deserted home, that would not do so if the owners remained in it." , Sgt. Osborn H. Oldroyd, 20th Ohio Infantry, "...I had the pleasure of eating a nice dinner with our old friend and neighbor, H. B. Coker. We are camped only 5 miles from him and we talked all day yesterday till 12 last night. Our old neighborhood came in for a large share of the thoughts..." , "... Coker is keeping a kind of bachelor establishment with his dear little children to keep him company. Maud [sic] is a sweet little girl and Edward Kenny is a fine boy , now over two years old , and Coker certainly does stand in need of a wife." , Sid Champion, 28th Miss. Calvary, May 2, 1864, Tuscaloosa County , [Photo caption] , Destruction of a planter's cotton gin and the confiscation of cotton along the Mississippi River (right).