Awwwww Thanks. It's a lot of fun to tell their story.
Of course you can tell by the outfits....Minnie and Henry were just children at the time of the Civil War, but to tie the story to the CW.....Minnie's father was Captain Cummins McBride Lay. Not a military Captain - a steamboat captain.
In May 1864, Union forces threatened to occupy Rome, Georgia, upstream from Gadsden. Two steamboats were docked there on the Coosa River – the
Laura Moore and the
Alphfretta. To prevent the boats from being captured, the crews raised steam and headed south under cover of darkness. Captain Cummins McBride Lay piloted the
Laura Moore and would do what no other pilot had done before - or since. Taking advantage of flood waters, he would navigate the
Laura Moore all the way down the Coosa River, where he turned her over to Confederate authorities at Mobile, AL. His success in steering the
Laura Moore through the dangerous rapids of the Coosa is recognized as possibly the most daring exploit ever attempted on any Alabama river.