[1] In 1847, noted author Rebecca Gratz, his maternal great-aunt, met Cohen when his mother brought he and his sister, Miriam, to visit her in Philadelphia.

A disability, rumored as being flat feet, affected him earlier in his life and resulted in his wearing a special boot and a leg brace.

[2] His mother sent him his books downriver, and his fellow soldiers "petted" him "as la fille du regiment was described to have been," "Gratz reported to his mother, comparing himself to the tomboy heroine of Donizetti's opera, the orphan girl who becomes the mascot of the French regiment that adopts her," wrote Jason K. Friedman in 2021.

By the end of the summer, he was appointed aide, with a rank of captain, on the staff of General George Paul Harrison Jr.[1] In representing the Confederate Army, he declared it "the duty of every Southern state to leave the Union," which he believed existed only in name.

[2] Over the winter of 1861–1862, Gratz joined a Confederate military unit tasked with defending the Georgia coast, which was becoming a Union stronghold.

[2] Towards the end of 1864, part way into Sherman's March to the Sea, Cohen left Savannah as a volunteer aide, without pay, again on the staff of Harrison, but this time as Brigadier-General.

She could not bring herself to be in the family home, at today's 116–120 West Liberty Street in Savannah, so she and her husband went on a grand tour of Europe.